Junior Bach Festival Auditions are now open for our 62nd Festival, coming March 13–22, 2015. Solos and ensembles—all instruments and voices—are invited to apply! We are hoping for large numbers of both in the 2015 Festival!
Festival auditions will take place in Morrison Hall at UC Berkeley during the weekend of January 31–February 1, 2015. A panel of professional musicians will judge each audition and write constructive comments for each soloist or ensemble. All auditions except vocal auditions will be judged anonymously, from behind a screen. Judges’ comments will be mailed to teachers, who may then share the comments with their students.
Students who pass their auditions will be invited to perform in a public Junior Bach Festival concert. Nine Junior Bach Festival concerts have been scheduled during the weekends of March 13–15 and March 20–22, 2015.
Music students under the age of 19 as of February 1, 2015 are invited to apply on any instrument. Keyboard accompanists, gambists, vocalists, harpsichord players and organists may be as old as 20 years.
Repertoire is limited to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Transcriptions are acceptable, but arrangements are not. Works are to be memorized except in the case of ensembles or concertos of two or more players. Scores may also be used by performers of solo organ or harpsichord.
Audition standards are high. In the past, about one-third of our applicants have been chosen to perform in Festival concerts. Students’ performances should be concert ready at the time of their audition.
We encourage applications online, although a paper application form may also be downloaded and mailed in. The application fee per audition is $45. Please go to our website, www.juniorbach.org, for much more information and a detailed explanation on how to apply.
