At the core of this internationally aligned, two-year Master’s programme is a practice-oriented engagement with interpretative and instrumental/vocal issues. The knowledge and abilities possessed by the students at the beginning of their studies will be consolidated with a view to a subsequent concert career. This expertise will then be expanded upon so that they reach the standard necessary for a professional qualification and for professional performance.
With respect to quality and with regard to the time to be invested in preparation and follow-up work, this Master’s programme gives the greatest weighting to the major subject. Students will also receive extensive practical training in chamber music and ensemble playing and these are complemented by a focus on issues of interpretation and a reflective learning process (theory/analysis).
In addition to the broad range of elective subjects, students may choose to specialise in a particular subject by enrolling for elective minors.
The city of Basel and the campus in particular offer the ideal environment in which to learn, work and find inspiration.
Rafael Rosenfeld, lecturer
Overview
The FHNW Master of Arts in Musical Performance prepares students for a career as a professional classical, jazz or early music performer. It focuses on producing musicians with a unique artistic identity whose instrumental/vocal proficiency and means of artistic expression equip them to become international performers and assert their presence in the "music scene and music business".
The FHNW Master of Arts in Musical Performance is aimed at highly gifted instrumentalists/vocalists who already hold a Bachelor degree.
Graduates of the FHNW Master of Arts in Musical Performance are qualified to embark on a career as a soloist, chamber musician or orchestral musician. In many cases, graduates opt to pursue a combination of the three, sometimes alongside instrument/singing tuition at music schools or on a private basis (see also the FHNW Master of Arts in Musical Pedagogy).
Admission criteria In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Musical Performance programme with an instrumental or vocal major, applicants must be awarded a Bachelor in Music/Music and Movement or equivalent as well as they must have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places). Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time and have passed the first round of the entrance exam will be invited to play a live audition. For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Studienreglement of the Master of Arts FHNW in Music Performance.
Required skills
Prospective students should have a sufficiently advanced manual/technical mastery of the instrument/voice that no longer requires them to work on acquiring practical and theoretical foundations, thereby enabling them to concentrate fully on the artistic, stylistic and performance-related aspects of playing music.
Prospective students should have a sufficiently firm grasp of the different styles within the basic repertoire that they are able to concentrate on consolidating and expanding their knowledge of instrumental/vocal styles in order to achieve the standard necessary for a professional qualification and for professional performance.
Prospective students must demonstrate a strong desire to express themselves musically and to develop and actively pursue their own performance-related ideas. They must also be able to convincingly inform and communicate through the medium of music.
Students are expected to have a high degree of autonomy and self-awareness (healthy self-esteem), and to be broadly familiar with certain areas beyond their particular specialisation that could be beneficial to their career as a professional musician.
Admission criteria for internal Bachelor applicants Internal Bachelor candidates absolve the entrance exam within their Bachelor qualification which they need to graduate with at least the grade 5.5. Further requirements are: - Having passed the Master preparation course - The jury must unanimously recommend that the student continues in the Master study course - The consent of the Major professor
Language Skills We recommend having sufficient German language skills.
Entrance exam The entrance exams is split into the first round, which is held “by video”, and the second one, which is a live audition.
Procedure First round: Video recordings Applicants must submit a video when registering. Video requirements The length of the video should be minimum 20 minutes to maximum 30 minutes. It should contain a representative selection of the repertoire requirements. The single works/movements submitted must indispensably be recorded without any cuts. If applicants submit one straight video with the whole programme, the applicant must set marks after every work/movement so that it is possible for the jury to purposely skip within the video. Microphone: We recommend using a suitable stereo microphone and place it conveniently. If necessary, you may also use the mi-crophone of a camera, computer, or smartphone. Please record the video from a fixed point of view. The hands and the face of the musician must be visible. Publicly recorded concerts may be submitted as long as they correspond to the above-mentioned requirements (no cuts) and as long as they are not older than 6 months. Please upload the video onto Youtube and add the link in the registration tool. Please add the worklist to your application or send it by mail to cmVnaXN0cmF0aW9uLmhzbUBmaG53LmNo until 15th February at the latest. Only those applicants who will be considered for the second round will be invited for the live audition. Second round: Live audition Repertoire requirements Please prepare a programme of minimum 20 to a maximum of 30 minutes with pieces from at least three different stylistic epochs and play them from memory according to the usual professional practice. The choice of the programme may be identical as the one of the video. The candidate may choose the first piece. Then, the jury will decide which works to play and is allowed to interrupt the audition at any time. Afterwards, there will be a short conversation about the goals of the studies and the study course content as well as the applicant´s prior education, experience, the choice of the professor, etc.
Dates The live auditions will take place at the end of April. The exact dates may be seen here.
Registration You may apply between 15th December and 15th February. Along with the registration, it is mandatory to submit the following documents: A curriculum vitae, a motivational letter, the school leaving qualification, the Bachelor Diploma. In case that the applicant already holds a Master Diploma, we also need a copy of that.
Announcement of the results The results of the first round will be communicated by mail at the end of March. The results of the second round will be communicated by mail in May.
At Hochschule für Musik Basel, students have the opportunity to participate in various project and ensemble programmes. To the overview of the recurring offers.
Our research activities centre on artistic action in the field of music, and the conditions that frame this process – from creation to performance, through to ...
