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Lamont School of Music

Orchestral Conducting Audition Requirements

Audition Requirements are the same for MM, AD and Certificate.

By December 15, 2009, in addition to the general DU and Lamont graduate application requirements (which includes all supplemental materials and the TOEFL for international students), applicants must...

Preliminary Round:

  1. Provide a resume detailing previous conducting experiences
  2. Submit 3 letters of recommendation (one of which must be someone who has seen the applicant conduct)
  3. Submit a DVD of the applicant's conducting (no specific requirements) [Note: videos in VHS format will not be accepted]
  4. Provide a written statement of the candidate's availability and preferences regarding the two final round audition dates listed below

Important Note: Only candidates whose applications are 100% complete by December 15, 2009 will be eligible to audition for the final round.

Final Round:

  1. If accepted into the final round, take a conducting audition with the Lamont Symphony Orchestra EITHER on February 1, 2010 conducting Brahms Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn OR on March 1, 2010 conducting Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (Bärenreiter edition), first movement plus another movement of the candidate's choosing.
  2. Interview with Dr. Lawrence Golan (on the day of the audition).
  3. Take a test to determine the candidate's knowledge of the orchestra (on the day of the audition).

In preparation for the test, candidates should become intimately familiar with Norman Del Mar's book "The Anatomy of the Orchestra". Hint: Del Mar's writing style is such that he likes to state a basic principle, and then spend pages discussing the rare exceptions to that principle. The test will include questions about the basic principles, not the rare exceptions.

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