Orchestral Conducting

Bachelor
BA
Absolvent Oscar Jockel in Westbam meets Wager / Osterfestspiele 2023 | © Osterfestspiele Salzburg / Erika Mayer

The bachelor's degree program in orchestral conducting serves to develop the students' personality and social skills for one of the most complex activities in today's art world.  The students are enabled to perceive artistic and societal developments, to participate in shaping them and to qualify for organizational competencies such as recording management, cultural management, publishing, source evaluation in addition to repertoire development, mediation and presentation.

General information

The study program is oriented both to the current state of the development and development of the
arts and to the state of research in the sciences involved. The goal of the Bachelor's Program in Orchestral Conducting is the practice-oriented and scientifically based professional preparation for the following fields offered to students:

  • Conductor
  • Opera Conductor
  • Ensemble director
  • Correpetitor

Furthermore, the study program should contribute to the students' personality development and unfolding of social skills. Students should be enabled to perceive and help shape artistic and social developments.

The goals of the BA in Performance at the Mozarteum University are artistic maturity and independence, critical self-reflection and evaluation, and the artistic and scientific ability to interpret musical works from all periods. The BA in Performance will equip students to pursue their chosen profession and to fulfil artistic, pedagogical and organisational tasks within cultural life.

The curriculum is competence-oriented. After completing the Bachelor's programme, students should:

  • be able to master their instrument and present themselves professionally
  • be free and independent in their artistic work
  • be able to deal critically with artistic and academic issues
  • be able to play professionally in an orchestra/ensemble
  • be able to work as a team-player in an artistically constructive way as a member of a chamber music formation or ensemble
  • have acquired comprehensive knowledge of various playing techniques
  • have acquired comprehensive knowledge of the orchestral literature and mastery of the relevant orchestral parts and the solo and chamber music literature of various periods
  • have basic knowledge of stylistics and repertoire
  • have gained insight into the literature and performance practice of both early and contemporary music
  • have acquired comprehensive knowledge of music theory and musicology and be able to apply this in practice
  • have mastered the basics of academic work and be able to analyse, interpret and write about artistic content in a grounded manner
  • be able to use audiovisual media for self-presentations (such as competition submissions, demo recordings, internet presentations etc.)
  • have gained insights into the areas of physical and mental health maintenance, self-management and performance optimisation
  • have further developed their individual interests in the sense of lifelong learning beyond their own subject area through targeted consolidation in the context of elective subjects

The eight-semester bachelor's degree programme is modular in structure. Each module comprises teaching and learning content that has been combined to form thematically and didactically meaningful units of study. The names and content descriptions (study objectives) of the individual modules, the number of ECTS credits to be achieved for each module, and the type of performance assessment are specified in the curriculum. The module descriptions refer to the corresponding learning outcomes and competencies. The Bachelor's program is a face-to-face program and cannot be offered - not even in part - as a distance learning program. The courses from the Principal Study, as well as in other One-to-One Tuition, are designed to build upon each other. Prerequisite for enrolment in courses from the Principal Study or One-to-One Tutition is a positive evaluation of the previous semester (from the second semester onwards).

The curriculum provides an overview of the courses to be completed, which are grouped into module groups.

The courses are visible online in Curriculum Support:

Link to the semester schedule

A prerequisite for beginning a bachelor's degree (BA) is passing an audition. Auditions take place once a year and consist of various partial exams. All information about the audition can be found under “Information about the admissions process” further down the page.

A high school diploma is not necessary.

PLEASE NOTE: You can only apply for study programmes for which you have not yet obtained a degree!

Students of the Bachelor's programme are encouraged to complete a semester abroad. Semesters 5 and 6 of the degree programme are particularly suitable for this. In addition to subject-specific competences, a study period abroad can also lead to the acquisition and deepening of:

  • Subject-specific foreign language skills
  • General foreign-language skills (language comprehension, conversation, etc.)
  • Organisational skills, through independent planning of everyday student life in international administrative and university structures
  • Knowledge about international study systems, as well as broadening one's own subject perspective
  • Intercultural competences

Examinations and assessments taken during studies abroad can be approved by the Director of Studies as equivalents to compulsory subjects, elective sujects or free elective subjects required by the Mozarteum University for your degree course. The documents required for the approval procedure are to be submitted by the applicant immediately after their exchange semester.

Details at International Affairs.

After completing the Bachelor's programme in Orchestral Conducting, the following Master's programmes are possible at Mozarteum:

  • MA Orchestral Conducting
  • MA Wind Orchestra Conducting
  • MA Correpetition for Music Theatre
  • MA Historical Performance Practice

Please note that a regular admission procedure (incl. entrance examination) must be completed again for admission to the Master's programmes!

Information on the admission process

prerequisite for admission to the Bachelor's degree programme (BA) is passing an audition. Application for an audtion takes place online, with applicants being required to submit an application video. If the application video is assessed positively, you will be invited to the admission examination.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • The assessment of the application video takes place after the application deadline and can take 4-6 weeks!
  • You can only apply for study programmes for which you have not yet obtained a degree!

On the basis of the videos sent in, a pre-selection will be made by the examination board. The selected applicants will be invited to an on-site audition, which consists of several parts.

Registration takes place via the application portal [Link], where you must first create an application account. Please note that the automatic email to activate the account can often be found in the spam folder, so please be sure to check there if you think you have not received it. If you still have problems activating your account, please contact studieninfo@moz.ac.at.

Please ensure that you can be reached at the email address entered in your profile throughout the entire application process. If there are any changes, please update your profile yourself.

Based on the videos sent in, a pre-selection will be made by the examination board. The following excerpt from the BA Orchestral Conducting examination programme is to be uploaded on a video platform of choice:

  • Conducting with ensemble (consisting of at least 5 ensemble members) of a work of choice

Please ensure in advance that the persons recorded on video and audio have given their consent to the audio and video recordings and submission as part of the admission examination. In this respect, the University Mozarteum Salzburg is to be fully indemnified and held harmless.

The duration of the video should be approx. 15 minutes.

Important information about the video upload can be found HERE, as well as the data protection information. The guidelines mentioned there are to be observed urgently!

In the online interview with the examination board on motivation, background, previous studies and expectations, the submitted video will also be discussed. For this purpose, you will receive an appointment and a link to a video conference tool in advance. Please ensure that you are available with a good internet connection at the specified time (probably mid-April); a PC/laptop with camera/microphone is also required.
The interview will take place via ZOOM and will last approximately 10 minutes.

After passing part A, admission to part B-F will be granted.

Conducting with ensemble:

  • Two symphonic works (e.g. L.v. Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, W.A. Mozart: Symphony KV 201).
  • The two works will be announced to applicants when they register for the entrance examination.
    Works for the entrance exam 2024/2025:
    Beethoven: 1. Sinfonie op. 21, 1st and 4th movement
    Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Nr. 28 (27) Rezitativ and Arie Susanna
  • Duration of the examination: approx. 10-20 minutes

Playing a piano excerpt from opera or oratorio literature as well as sight-reading, duration approx. 10-15 minutes

Programme:

  • Performance (i.e. playing and singing from the piano) of a short opera scene from a German, Italian or French opera chosen and prepared by the applicant (in the original language, e.g. an accompagnato recitative or an aria from an opera).
  • Sight-reading of an excerpt from an opera or oratorio.

The examination consists of a written and an oral part. In order to pass, both parts of the examination must be passed.

Written examination (180 min)

Composition: (120 min)

  • Harmonising a chorale melody in baroque style;
  • Preparation of a stylistic work of your choice: two-part counterpoint (cantus-firmus movement in Renaissance style or invention in Baroque style) OR free-tonal or dodecaphonic style exercise;
  • Analysis of your choice: analysis of a short tonal piano piece in terms of form, harmony, compositional technique OR analysis of a small-scale work/piano piece in terms of form, harmony, compositional technique (20th century).

Ear training: (60 min)

  • one-part free tonal,
  • two-part classical (e.g. minuet by Mozart or Haydn),
  • free-tonal three-part tonal progression with recumbent notes or chromaticism,
  • four-part homophonic tonal including mishearing

Oral examination (10 min):

  • Singing from the reed,
  • Listening to mistakes in a polyphony,
  • tapping a two-part rhythm (according to notation)

You can find an exam example and further preparation help (only the basics!) HERE.

 

Advanced piano playing, audition lasting approx. 10 minutes:

  • Performance of two prepared piano pieces of medium difficulty, one of them from the 20th century, e.g.:
    Bach: two- or three-part invention;
    a piano piece in the classical style (e.g. a bagatelle by Beethoven, a sonata movement by Clementi),
    Bartók: Mikrokosmos Vol. III, Kurtág: Játékok Vol. III.
  • Sight-reading of a piece (lower level of difficulty, e.g. Bach: Klavierbüchlein Anna Magdalena Bach, Schumann: Album für die Jugend, Bartók Mikrokosmos Vol. II) OR improvisation on a given theme/motif

All applicants whose first language is not German must prove their German skills by the time of enrolment at the latest.

  • Required language level: at least A2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages GER 2001)
  • Information on the approved language certificates can be found HERE

The dates for 2024 can be found here.

A complete overview of all current entrance exam dates is here.

  • Examination registration during the application period online via the registration portal for university applicants
    (ATTENTION: Registration only possible if documents are complete, including video!)
  • If the application video is positive: Invitation to the on-site entrance examination
  • Participation in the on-site admission test in May/June
  • if you pass the admission test: invitation to enrol for the degree programme
  • Enrolment during the general admission period

Please note that the Mozarteum University Salzburg offers various support options at the time of your audition and during your studies if you have a disability or a chronic illness.

If this applies to you and you would like to take advantage of counselling, please contact Claudia Haitzmann: claudia.haitzmann@moz.ac.at oder +43 676 88122 337.

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