Piano 2023: Repertoire

Competitors must offer a complete concerto and 40 minutes or more of recital repertoire as listed below.

Semifinals Round

Monday, July 31 and Tuesday, August 1

Approximately 20 pianists — 40 minutes duration.

After performing the two required pieces below, the competitors will choose the order and pieces to be performed for this 40-minute round.

  1. The first movement of a sonata by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, or Schubert. This may be the same piece submitted with your application.

  2. One of the following lyrical pieces:

    • FELIX MENDELSSOHN - Songs Without Words
      Op. 19, No. 1 in E Major
      Op. 38, No. 6 in A-flat Major
      Op. 62, No. 1 in G Major
      Op. 85, No. 4 in D Major

    • FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
      Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 45
      Nocturne (your choice of one of the nineteen Nocturnes)

    • ROBERT SCHUMANN
      Romance, Op. 28, No. 2 in F-sharp Major

Concerto Round

Wednesday, August 2

An entire concerto selected by each competitor from the list below will be performed with piano accompaniment. The Cooper Competition will provide experienced piano accompanists to all concerto-round candidates for a studio rehearsal. This rehearsal time will be the length of the concerto plus 30 minutes. No other accompanists are permitted.

Cooper Competition piano concerto list:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto No. 1
  • Beethoven: Concerto No. 2
  • Beethoven: Concerto No. 3
  • Beethoven: Concerto No. 4
  • Beethoven: Concerto No. 5
  • Johannes Brahms: Concerto No. 1
  • Brahms: Concerto No. 2
  • Frédéric Chopin: Concerto No. 1
  • Chopin: Concerto No. 2
  • Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto
  • Liszt: Concerto No. 1
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto No. 20, K.466
  • Mozart: Concerto No. 23, K.488
  • Sergei Prokofiev: Concerto No. 1
  • Prokofiev: Concerto No. 3
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 1
  • Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 2
  • Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 3
  • Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
  • Camille Saint-Saens: Concerto No. 2
  • Robert Schumann: Concerto
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1

Concerto Finals

Friday, August 4

Each of the three finalists will perform their complete concerto with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall.