Music major applicants should submit the required repertoire shown below for the desired degree program. All music major applicants will be automatically considered for scholarships.
Non-music major applicants should submit the same repertoire as required for the BA music majors.
Please note: if accepted to the music major, or awarded a music scholarship in piano, you will be required to be in a large ensemble. If you do not play a secondary instrument, most first year piano students choose to sing in one of the first year vocal ensembles.
All candidates
In addition to the playing requirement below, each candidate’s resumé should include a list of solo piano repertoire he or she has studied, including information about which pieces have been memorized and which have been performed in concert.
B.A. music major, music education, non-music major
Candidates will prepare a varied program of at least two solo pieces that display contrasting characters and demonstrate technical facility. Approximately 10 minutes total.
B.M. performance major
Candidates will prepare a varied program of at least four solo pieces that display contrasting characters and demonstrate advanced technical facility. The repertoire is to be performed from memory and should include:
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One contrapuntal piece in three or more voices, preferably by J.S. Bach
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One work by Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, or Schubert, such as the first or last movement of a sonata or a set of variations
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One composition from the Romantic era
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One impressionistic or contemporary composition written since 1900 (not the applicant’s own composition)
All 2025 applicants, optional for 2024 applicants
B.M. performance major
Candidates will prepare a varied program of at least four solo pieces that display contrasting characters and demonstrate advanced technical facility. We encourage you to choose works that best represent your individual artistry. The repertoire is to be performed from memory* and should include:
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One contrapuntal piece in three or more voices by J.S. Bach or one of his contemporaries
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A sonata-allegro movement from a work by Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, or one of their contemporaries
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One work composed in the Romantic or neo-Romantic style
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One 20th or 21st century work (not the applicant’s own composition)
We welcome and encourage the inclusion in your audition program of a work written by a composer from a historically marginalized group, and/or written in the last fifty years.
*Exceptions may be permitted only in the case of some 20th and 21st-century pieces. Permission must be granted by the St. Olaf College piano faculty upon request.