My daughter is planning on double majoring in music ed and vocal performance. She is 16 and will be a junior next year. She is planning on entering a classical voice competition because we were told it would look good on her college application. For one of the contests she is thinking about, it seems there are different repertoire requirements each year. One year I heard they were looking for art songs and the next they wanted an aria. I always thought arias were too mature for young voices but I was told that a Mozart aria would not be too difficult. I am wondering if colleges ever require an aria so that whatever she picks could also be used for college or if they frown upon them? Thanks.
Is your daughter working with a voice teacher yet? A voice teacher would help her with something appropriate for her voice.
Yes she is. The teacher suggested Mozart. Just wondering if arias are required in college auditions or is it just art songs?
@thevoicemom I would look at the audition requirements for the colleges she is interested in. That will give you an ideA of what each school is looking for.
Most schools would prefer to hear art songs instead of arias unless the singer absolutely kicks butt on the aria. I recently asked a couple of voice department heads from two different schools about this issue, and they said they’d much rather hear a simpler piece delivered with ease and with artistry than a more technically challenging piece where the singer is just trying to survive.
The things that seem to be consistent are: pretty much everyone wants something in English (often 20th or 21st century) and some want something old in Italian (like the 24, 26, 28 Italian arias). If you fill it out with a couple of other languages, whether that’s one of the simpler, lighter Mozart arias, or a couple of German or French art songs, you should be good to go.
I have never seen a college require an aria for undergrad (doesn’t mean it’s not out there, but none of my students has ever come across this requirement). And if it is a requirement, you could probably use one of the previously mentioned 24 Italian as your aria.
There are some colleges that explicitly forbid arias. You are much safer with preparing art songs for prescreens (usually one Italian, one English, and one other (French, German, or another Italian).
Thank you both! I appreciate your experience in this area as I have none other than the extensive research I am trying to accomplish. Her voice teacher is also very helpful in this area. She is working on Italian now and has a German song as well and will be working on French and more German when she is finished with Italian. Great recommendations. So the aria will most likely just be for the competition if they decide to ask for it.