Cornell Symphony Orchestra

General Information

The Sixth Annual Concerto Competition will be held on Sunday, December 13th, 2009.
Applications are due by 4:30pm, December 4, 2009.

Competition Guidelines

Prize

The winner will perform with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra on March 6, 2010.

Eligibility

All currently enrolled undergraduates and graduate students from any Cornell college and in any major may participate. Must be studying privately with a Cornell music faculty member or faculty-sponsored outside instructor.

Instrument

The competition is open to all orchestral instruments, as well as guitar, saxophone, piano, and voice.

Notes

It is important that the studio teacher and the student know ahead of time what the goal or goals of the student's audition will be. The competition itself can serve either or both of two functions:

1. An opportunity to audition for a distinguished panel of professional musicians from the Ithaca area. To fulfill this purpose, the student and teacher are free to select a piece best suited to the student's education in the long run, provided the piece adheres to the rules of the competition.

2. An opportunity to play a solo with the Symphony Orchestra. If a student truly desires to win the competition, he or she—in consultation with the teacher—must take into account the following considerations:

• The orchestra part must be within performance reach of the orchestra. No matter how excellent the student performance, if the piece is not playable by CSO, it will not be programmed.
• The piece should be as highly polished as possible. The judges will not take into account the student's ability or potential to play well, nor will they take into account the difficulty of the piece, only the quality of the actual performance.
• It is absolutely critical that each student have sufficient rehearsal with his or her accompanist. Since the winners will have to perform with an orchestra after very limited rehearsal time, they will need to be very familiar with the accompaniment. The judges will be looking for indications of the student's level of comfort in this area.
• Since it will be impossible to reconvene all of the judges, there will be no effective make-up date or appeals process; the decision of the judges on the day of the audition will be final.

CSO strongly encourages students to rely on their private teachers' experience and judgment when choosing a piece to play for the competition. Teachers who have questions are encouraged to contact CSO directors directly.

Repertoire

A selection not to exceed 20 minutes of a major work for soloist and orchestra, ONLY single movement or single movement of a larger work is acceptable. Memorization is mandatory.

You must provide your own accompanist. Musicians who are unable to provide an accompanist for the live audition should contact Xak Bjerken at xb10@cornell.edu, no later than November 15, 2008.

Application

Please download and complete the application form. Note: It is mandatory that the applicant's current private teacher sign the application in the appropriate space. No application will be accepted without the approval of the student's private teacher.

Questions?

Contact Chris Kim at cyk8@cornell.edu or 607-225-8614.

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