Tanglewood Music Center
Piano Program Application Instructions
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Applications for the Instrumental Piano Program are now open.
Requirements
- Online application must be completed by February 1, 2024 at 11:59PM Eastern.
- Applicants to the Tanglewood Music Center must be at least 18 years old as of June 21, 2024.
- Applicants must be available for the entire duration of the 2024 TMC residency from June 21 – August 20.
- Applicants to the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) must submit an application, including a $75 application fee, via Acceptd. Applicants experiencing any hardship that they feel renders them unable to pay the application fee are asked to contact the TMC office at tmc@bso.org to request an application fee waiver.
Application
As part of completing the online application, applicants will be required to submit:
- A current resume.
- One letter of recommendation. You will be asked to provide the contact information for this reference on the GetAcceptd application. Upon completion of your application, they will be prompted to upload the recommendation. Recommendations should be in PDF format.
- A fully detailed and complete repertoire list (NOT a generalized or representative one), including repertoire with voice(s), repertoire with instrument(s), as well as solo repertoire and concertos, (indicating with an asterisk those works performed in public). Selections within each section must be alphabetized by the surname of the composer.
Vocal Focus Option
Piano applicants have the option to declare a vocal focus for their summer at Tanglewood. If admitted, fellows with this concentration will spend a significant amount of their summer workload as vocal collaborators. They will participate in weekly vocal studio classes, recitals, work as rehearsal pianists for vocal projects, and more. These fellows will enjoy increased time with vocal piano faculty including Margo Garrett and Javier Arrebola as well as vocal faculty including Head of the Vocal Program Dawn Upshaw and Randall Scarlata.
If you are interested in the vocal focus option and have questions please feel free to contact the TMC office at tmc@bso.org!
Audition
All auditions for the piano program are to be submitted online via recorded video (instructions below). The candidate’s audition must feature THREE of the following FOUR options. Pianists applying for the vocal focus option must include a vocal work as one of their choices. Please take care to represent contrasting styles.
- A solo piano work of the candidate’s choice, demonstrating musical and technical ability.
- A chamber music performance with the candidate performing with a minimum of two players.
- A vocal work with one or more singers and piano.
- An idiomatically modern work from the last 100 years, preferably demonstrating rhythmic, tonal, notational, or technical contemporary fluency.
Video Audition Requirements
All video recordings must meet the following criteria:
- Recordings must contain all audition repertoire.
- While each selection may be a separate recording, each recording must be played in one continuous, unedited segment.
- Video must be from a single video camera, with the same shot for the entire video.
- Your full body must be in the shot for video.
- Any indication that there has been editing or that recording equipment was paused/stopped between excerpts will result in the disqualification of the applicant.
Some advice for getting the best video possible:
- We strongly recommend you view your recording all the way through before submitting it.
- Record in a quiet space with no background noise present. If you're at home, make sure you're away from noisy appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners.
- Ensure your microphone is not too close to you.
- Note that the sole purpose of the video is to ensure that you are the one playing your audition, and that it is in one continuous segment. If you have to choose between amazing audio and amazing video, choose amazing audio.