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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. 

    Final audition dates for spring 2026 will be announced in the fall. Please monitor this page for updates. 
     
    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]. All applicants within the United States are expected to audition in-person. 
  • 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"