<p>I have been accepted into several different colleges and I have auditions coming up in a few months for acceptance into music departments, as well as scholarship. These auditions are for classical music, not jazz or musical theater and it is required for most of these songs to be in other languages,(Italian, German, French) although English folk songs are allowed. Additionally, I am a first soprano.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone had suggestions on repetoire. I keep finding lists of things not to sing, but these are all for musical theater. Are there any classical composers I should shy away from? Any and all suggestions are welcome!</p>
<p>Ask your voice teacher what to sing. If you do not have one, get a referral and get started immediately. You do not want to do a college audition without some professional preparation, i.e. with a voice teacher. Sing in English unless you have studied another language, in which case, with your teacher's help, you might try a song in that language. Do include an English art song regardless. Good luck.</p>
<p>I've been studying with a voice teacher for about three years now. I've been singing in Italian for two of those three. French and German are lost on me. Hah. But you say I should do at least one English song regardless? I'll keep that in mind, and I have some ideas already for that.<br>
Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>Many schools and conservatories require one of the selections to be in English. The specific vocal audition requirements are posted on the web for each school. Good luck.</p>
<p>They would rather you sing in the languages you can manage, so stick with Italian and English. German is not as hard as French, but there are some sounds in the language you are not used to making. It is unlikely that they will hear more than two songs, but it would be nice if you had two in English and two in Italian. That way if there is something they cannot tell about your voice, it is more likely one of the other songs will show it. On the other hand, you are not obligated to demonstrate the things you cannot do. If your low notes are very weak, you do not have to show them that range. If your high range needs to be approached a certain way to come out securely, by all means pick songs which allow you to do that. In competitions, it is frequently not so much that one person wins as that everyone else loses. You can make sure you do not "lose" in your audition by picking your music carefully. Good luck.</p>
<p>I strongly agree with L's comments. The schools want to hear potential. Choose songs that show your strengths. The various languages will come later. English and Italian should be fine for virtually all undergraduate voice auditions. The tried and true Italian Art Songs work well when they are sung well. A Mozart aria in English or Italian is another good choice.</p>
<p>Each school has specific requirements - make sure you go to each site, a print the audition requirements! Make a grid for yourself of all your school's requirements and try to find repertoire that sounds and feels wonderful in your voice AND fits all the requirements. Only a voice teacher can help you with your classical repertoire - not forum members who have never heard you sing.</p>
<p>Most young singers can manage Handel much better than Mozart, there is much more to chose from, and any key is fine for any song (though they are really arias). With Mozart arias, you must sing in the original key. Lorelei</p>
<p>Not sure my DD would agree with you, as she is struggling through all the difficult coloratura ornaments that her vocal coach delights in adding to her Handel arias, lol! They are each difficult in their own way.</p>
<p>Ah, but there are options in Handel, but there are not in Mozart. Her teacher will wisely have her do what she can, what shows to her advantage. Certainly there are challenges to Handel, but it is very vocal, and there is something for everyone. It is no small thing that the key can be changed without offending any judge. Mozart requires an absolute of key, line, musicality, style, and few singers of any age and maturity satisfy it.</p>
<p>I've been hearing singers in professional opera companies adding ornaments to Cherubino's arias and I'm pretty suprised - I thought you couldn't touch Mozart either where Handel it is fully expected for you to add!</p>
<p>It is more often done in this country, but in Germany, it is much less likely. In an audition, one does not want to run the risk of offending or bothering the listening judges, and so it is probably not a good idea to mess with Mozart. If a singer is hired to do the role, or given the role in a school production, and the conductor wants it ornamented, then fine, otherwise, leave Mozart be. Handel arias are frequently da capo, which means that there is an A section, then a B section, and then the A section is repeated with expressive ornamentation. (Handel's oratorio arias are given less ornamentation, out of respect for the religious/biblical texts, though some oratorios are presented with semi-stagings currently. In appreciation of their inherent dramatic nature, there have been more liberties with musical style, hence more ornamentation. Generally Handel arias in Italian are from the operas and those in English from the oratorios.) Rossini/Donizetti/Bellini (bel canto) arias are frequently in this form. Verdi is not ornamented, but there are options in the cadenzas which end the arias. Mozart arias are more often semi-strophic, with repetitions of the same musical ideas with different texts (at least part of them), so Mozart has already changed things. Of course, these general comments are not applicable to every aria by any of these composers, but generally they are true. </p>
<p>Performance practices do keep evolving, but listeners/judges have prejudices and attitudes. Caution is appropriate.</p>