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Graduate Vocal Arts Program

Audition Requirements

Prescreening Auditions

  • Video Recordings
    As part of your online application, you will be asked to submit a recording with the following repertoire. All pre-screening recordings must include both audio and video. Audio only files will not be accepted.

    You do not need to hire a professional video and audio engineer. Just be sure that you can be clearly seen and heard in your recordings.
  • Three Selections
    Genre requirements: Include at least one art song and one operatic aria.

    Language requirements: Three languages; one must be English.

    Style requirements: One selection must be written in a more modern idiom. (Many works written after 1950 would fall into this category, although works by Stravinsky or Schoenberg, for example, would also be suitable.)
  • File Sizes and Types
    Although Slate does support media files as large as 2 GB, please be advised that larger files will take longer to upload from your Internet connection and may stall if you are on a wireless connection or one that cannot sustain a connection for the necessary period of time. Uploaded documents may contain no more than 75 pages.

Final Auditions

  • Live Auditions
    Auditions are by invitation only, and shortlisted applicants will receive an invitation to audition in mid-December. Auditions take place in-person at Bard College Conservatory of Music in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. 

    2025 Final Audition Dates 
    • Friday, March 7 
    • Saturday, March 8
    International applicants are strongly encouraged to audition in person if at all possible. However, if they are unable to travel to the United States for final auditions, they may send a video audition. Applicants should use the live audition repertoire requirements for their video. Special arrangements for submission of this video should be made with the director of admissions at [email protected].
  • Repertoire Requirements
    Five selections: 
    • Genre requirements: Include three art songs and two arias (one may be from an oratorio).
    • Language requirements: Three languages; one must be English, and one should be in the singer’s native language (if the singer is not a native English speaker).
    • Style requirements: The repertoire presented should be in a variety of time periods and styles, tempos, mood, and character. One piece must be written in a contemporary idiom (see prescreening guidelines for clarification).
  • Sample Audition Repertoire
    Example audition offerings by singers whose native language is English.

    Package One Arias:
    • Cipullo: "My Darling Jim" from Glory Denied
    • Mozart: “Deh vieni, non tardar” from Le nozze di Figaro
    Package One Art Songs:
    • Clara Schumann: “Er ist gekommen”
    • Florence Price: “Night"
    • Prokofiev: “The Grey-Eyed King” from Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Op. 27
    Package Two Arias: 
    • John Adams: "Batter my heart" from Doctor Atomic
    • Felix Mendelssohn: "Gott, sei mir gnädig" from St Paul
    Package Two Art Songs: 
    • Cécile Chaminade: "N'est-ce pas?"
    • Hall Johnson: "Ain't got time to die"
    • Jennifer Higdon: "Red"