About Crescendo Auditions

Auditions for the 2021-2022 Crescendo season will take place either in person or virtually in ​August 2021. Please watch this space for further information on how to apply.
Crescendo members and parents will experience a different focus from their very first interaction with the organization – the audition. Crescendo provides feedback from the audition to all candidates, regardless of acceptance, giving participants a sense of their strengths and areas in which they could improve. Additionally, the audition itself will differ from others because the audition panel is able to interact with candidates to uncover skills that may be hard to identify as a result of the limitations of a standard audition format or simple nerves on the part of young player. Judges look for a candidate's ability to take instruction and to quickly assimilate new information. Such skills weigh equally in the decision making process as a candidate’s playing and/or sight‐reading abilities. We welcome beginners.

Audition Requirements

Any student in sixth through twelfth grade is eligible to audition for Crescendo. Requirements for the audition include:
  • Prepared Solo (one movement from a multiple movement piece is acceptable): Candidates should be prepared to perform their solo selection in its entirety, however, because of time constraints, judges may ask candidates to start or end anywhere within the piece. Candidates should provide an original copy of the music (which will be returned at the end of the audition) and should play the audition using a separate copy of their music or from memory.
  • Prepared Excerpts: Candidates must prepare one or more excerpts from the standard chamber music repertoire and be prepared to play them both alone and with members of the audition panel. Excerpts will be provided upon registration for audition.
  • Judge/Candidate Interaction: Candidates will perform the prepared excerpts as part of a string quartet made up of the audition panel. Judges will interact with each candidate to assess his or her comfort level with the small ensemble setting, his or her ability to take direction, and the candidate's ability to make quick and appropriate musical adjustments. Some candidates may be asked to sight-read.
  • Scales: There are no scales required for this audition.
  • Beginners: ​Candidates will be judged primarily on their ability to take instruction and assimilate new information. 

Audition Registration

Information about how to request an audition will be posted shortly.