Piano

BA in Performance

Overview

With its strong emphasis on performance opportunities and exciting classes, the bachelor's degree programme in piano is the gateway to a fulfilling musical career. This all-encompassing education in the instrument is taught by internationally renowned teachers and focuses on the sharpening of both the individual artistic profile and the ability to interpret works from all periods in a musical and academically informed way.

Modul Overview

General information

This degree course is oriented around current developments and performance practice in the arts, as well as the latest, most up-to-date research in the academic disciplines involved. The goal of the BA in Performance is the practice-oriented and academically sound professional preparation for the following fields:

Soloist
Chamber musician
Orchestral musician (e.g. in chamber/opera/symphony orchestras, orchestras and ensembles for contemporary music, ensembles for historical instruments)
Freelance artist

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 repertoire 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 repertoire 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 scholarly working practices 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 beyond their own subject area through targeted selection of elective subjects in the spirit of lifelong learning

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 programme is a face-to-face programme and cannot be offered - not even in part - as a distance learning programme. 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 modules.

The courses are visible online in Curriculum Support:

Link to the curriculum

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 procedure” 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 Piano, the following Master's programmes can be studied at the Mozarteum:

MA Piano
MA Applied piano studies
MA Piano chamber music & Lied interpretation
MA Piano chamber music for piano trio (with partners)
MA Piano duo (with partner)
MA Repetiteur training
MA Fortepiano
MA Lied
MA Wind orchestra conducting
MA Historical performance practice

Please note that a regular admissions procedure (incl. audition) must be completed again for admission to a Master's programme!

Information on the admissions process

A prerequisite for admission to the Bachelor's degree programme (BA) is passing an audition, for which applicants must register online via Muvac. Following approval of the application by the university’s admissions office, applicants will be invited to upload an application video to Muvac. Applicants who pass the video round will be invited to an on-site audition in Salzburg.

PLEASE NOTE:

Evaluation of all application videos will commence only after the deadline for video uploads (20.03.2025) has passed, and can take up to 4 weeks!
Applicants can only apply for degree programmes for which they have not yet obtained a degree!

A pre-selection of applicants will be made by the audition panel based on the videos submitted. The selected applicants will be invited to an on-site audition, which consists of several parts.

The steps necessary for registration are detailed below. Applicants who have already studied at an Austrian university should start with step 3.

1. Create a basic account in MOZonline
2. Once in the MOZonline account: fill in the mandatory statistics UHstat1 (pre-registration for studies) and make a note of the application number that is sent by email upon submission of this information.
3. Create an application account in Muvac
4. Fill out your own profile in Muvac (minimum requirements: personal data, information on expertise matching the desired degree programme, in the CV: current employment and information on previous training)

During the application period:

5. Select your desired degree programme in Muvac (Browse -> Studies)
6. Fill out the application form in Muvac ("Apply now"), being sure to enter your application number (see step 2) or Austrian matriculation number in the appropriate field

Detailed instructions with screenshots can be found here.
Please take a look at the FAQs about registration in Muvac if you have any problems.

Communication during the application process takes place via Muvac or email, depending on the degree programme. Please ensure that you can be contacted at the email address entered in your profile throughout the entire application process and regularly check whether you have received any new messages in Muvac. You can set your own profile to inform you of any new messages in Muvac by email (Account settings -> Notifications).

If your contact details change, please update your profile yourself.

Online registration during the application period via the application portal Muvac (Please note: Registration is only possible if all required information and documents have been submitted!)
Once the online application has been processed: invitation to the video pre-selection in Muvac; the application video must be uploaded there by the deadline specified.
If successful in the pre-selection (video) round: invitation to on-site audition. The invitation will be sent via Muvac.
The invitation to audition on-site must be accepted or rejected in Muvac; information on the audition programme in the principal study must be provided if required by the instrument/degree programme in question
participation in the on-site audition
Upon passing the audition and being offered a place: invitation to enrol in the degree programme
Enrolment (in person) during the general admission period

The repetition of composite parts of the audition in case of failure is not permitted; the audition can only be repeated in its entirety and only in the next academic year. The audition can be repeated an unlimited number of times.

A pre-selection of applicants will be made by the audition panel based on the videos submitted.

The video should contain the following:

Self-introduction
The self-introduction lasts a maximum of 2 minutes and must be spoken freely in German or English directly before playing. Please state your motivation for studying and additional information (i.e. special interests or artistic successes) in addition to your written application.

Artistic presentation
You present your artistic programme directly (without cuts or fades) after the self-introduction. You play the programme in your self-determined order. The specified video examination programme (without editing or fades) must be recorded in full.

Examination programme for the video

a.         A prelude and fugue by J. S. Bach
b.         A fast movement from a sonata of the Viennese Classical period (including Schubert)
c.         A virtuoso etude by F. Chopin (except Op 10/3,6 and Op 25/17)
d.         A work of your own choice*

*A work from the on-site round - see below h through i - can also be chosen as a work of your choice.

The choice of technical means is up to you. It is in your own interest that the sound and image quality is as communicative as possible and of the highest possible quality.

General information on the application video is listed below and must be observed urgently!

Upon successful processing of their application, applicants will be invited to the video pre-selection round in Muvac.

Applicants who wish to accept the invitation must upload their video by 20^th March 2025.

If an applicant fails to confirm their participation in the video pre-selection in Muvac before the deadline, and therefore does not upload a video, their application will not be considered and the status of the application will be changed to "did not participate". In this case, the application process will automatically be discontinued.

Video files are to be created by the applicant themselves and uploaded to the application platform Muvac. The following guidelines must be observed:

Both the face and body of the applicant must be visible in the video.
The picture and sound quality of the video should be as good as possible. If the sound and/or image quality is insufficient, the video will not be considered.
The sound recording in the video must not be electronically amplified or altered.
Video editing is not permitted* - the recording must not be edited/cut and must run from beginning to end. Exactly one video must be submitted per application.
Information on the content and duration of the video is given on the web page of the relevant degree programme.
If possible, the names of the pieces should be given in the video description (title of the video in Muvac).

^{*Exceptions: For the performance studies in string instruments (including guitar) the following applies: The video may be edited between the pieces. Exactly one video must be submitted per application.}

Piano accompaniment in the video

For the following instruments, accompaniment in the video is recommended but not obligatory:

String instruments (except for solo pieces).
Wind instruments (exception for recorder: harpsichord accompaniment; for oboe and bassoon: piano or harpsichord accompaniment)

The data protection information can be found HERE.

The instrumental audition takes place on site in Salzburg and consists of 2 rounds. The examination committee selects excerpts from the prepared programme on site.

The following programme must be prepared:

e.         The prelude and fugue by Bach (from a. above)
f.          The complete work of the Viennese Classical period (from b. above)
g.         The etude by Chopin (from c. above)
h.         A work of the Romantic era (including late Romantic, e.g. Rachmaninoff or Scriabin up to op. 53)
i.          A work of the 20th/21st century
k.         A short piano piece (Sheet music will be handed out on the first day of the exam on site and shall be prepared for the 2nd round on site.)

All works (except contemporary music from 1945 and the piece from k. above) must be performed from memory.

Examination in basic knowledge of general music theory (written and oral), including an aural test.

Requirements in the written part of the examination (approx. 60 minutes):

•   Notation of melodies from memory
•   Continuation of given melodies
•   Composing a short melody to a given text
•   Noting down one-part and easy two-part melodic dictations as well as rhythmic dictations
•   Forming all triads and seventh chords including inversions (especially dominant-seventh chords in root position and 3rd inversion)
•   Recognising and notating simple figured basses as well as harmony functions and harmony steps in a musical context

Requirements in the oral part of the examination (5-10 minutes):

Sight reading
Recognising and naming intervals and simple chord progressions
Singing triads (in inversions) and dominant seventh chords (in root position only)
Identification of harmonic steps and dissonant neighbour notes
Performing an extended cadence in major and minor in two different keys (on piano or guitar)

Sample exam questions and further help for preparation can be found HERE.

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

Application video: upload in Muvac until 20.3.2025
Exam A - Instrumental audition to determine artistic aptitude: 2.6.-6.6.2025
Exam B - Music theory & aural skills: 5.6.2025
Exam C - German language skills: certificate (to be presented upon enrolment)

overview of all current entrance exam dates

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 or +43 676 88122 337.