Every two years the Department of Music holds a Concerto Competition, which is open to all registered students at the University and to all members of the performance ensembles. The competition is held during the winter quarter of even-numbered years. The 2020 Concerto Competition will take place on Friday and Saturday, February 28 and 29, 2020, with winning performances to be scheduled during the spring quarter.
Contestants in the Biennial Concerto Competition should audition on the piece that they would like to perform in concert, and repertoire must be suitable for performance with the University Symphony Orchestra, University Chamber Orchestra, or University Wind Ensemble, both in terms of difficulty and in terms of instrumentation. The full orchestral score and parts must also be available from some library, publisher, or other lending source, and all repertoire selections are subject to the approval of the USO, UCO, and UWE directors before an audition will be scheduled. (If you have any doubts about your chosen piece, be sure to contact Barbara Schubert in advance.) Either complete concertos or single movements are eligible for consideration; those who wish to perform an entire concerto must audition with excerpts from at least two movements of that concerto.
Depending on the auditions themselves, the committee of judges may select one winner or multiple winners; performances may be scheduled for a springtime Concerto Showcase Concert or on another concert during the subsequent academic year. Recent Concerto Competition Winners have performed such major repertoire as the violin concertos of Beethoven, Bruch, Glazunov, and Mendelssohn; piano concertos by Brahms, Liszt, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff; and instrumental concertos by Ibert and Gershwin, as well as vocal arias by Donizetti and Strauss.
For complete information, please read the 2020 Concerto Competition Guidelines. To audition, complete the 2020 Concerto Competition Application form, and return it to the Music Department main office (Goodspeed 309) no later than Monday, February 24 by 5:00 p.m.