Content and structure

Course content.

ZHdK offers up-and-coming soloists an optimal training environment. They receive individual support from the teaching staff for their artistic career, and are prepared for concerts, productions, projects, competitions, castings, and other formats for the purpose of launching their own career. They already work in the concert area, and with the help of the Major want to expand their artistic profile and their performative work. They also assume central roles in ensembles, orchestras and productions of ZHdK.
They are perceived by the public as mature interpretive personalities and have strong charisma as well as a stage presence. Their repertoire usually consists of Major virtuoso works of the repertoire and/or profiles in contemporary music or historically based performance practice.

The Major is offered for recorder, harpsichord, bassoon, voice, guitar, harp, horn, clarinet, piano, double bass, marimba, oboe, organ, trombone, transverse flute, saxophone, percussion, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin and violoncello.

Course structure.

Core

The artistic Major is the focus of the course. Students plan, study, perform and reflect on the repertoire as part of their individual tuition. For works with piano or orchestral accompaniment, vocal coaching/accompaniment in artistic partnership is available for studying, rehearsing and performing works during classroom lessons and panels. Individual career planning determines participation in master classes, competitions, castings as well as audiovisual or artistic projects and concert work. Within this framework, professors for the Major also play an important role as mentors.

Extension

Collaborative and social skills are taught in the module area and expanded within the scope of
several formations. Guided orchestral and/or ensemble work is enabled in the stylistically diverse environment as well as self-organized and self-managed project work in formations ranging from duets to octets. Within the scope of chamber music academies, chamber ensemble formations and surprise or prelude concerts (e.g. in collaboration with Tonhalle Zurich), concert performances are realized under professional conditions in a series of public concerts in the environment.

Profile 

Students are able to develop an independent professional profile and improve their use of audiovisual communication and production forms, social media, other digital platforms and
company forms. Learning and development steps are continuously reflected on, supported and documented in the digital portfolio during a mentoring session. This empowers students to take control of their career planning. 

Graduation exam/project

Students demonstrate their artistic skills in a demanding public interim examination tailored to the repertoire and in a public recital or solo concert with an orchestra, which is supplemented with a written paper on the topic. The presentation of their digital portfolio not only allows them to show what they have achieved in addition to their Major studies, but also the skills they have acquired to promote their own career when dealing with digitality in aspects such as their online presence, social media profile, and production of audiovisual materials.

Module plan:

Skills acquired in the course.

The Major in “Soloist” serves as a springboard for a successful career as an instrumental or vocal soloist. As exceptional talents with an unusually high skill level, students are prepared as soloists or accompanied by an orchestra or a choir, or prepared to take leading roles in established ensembles.
Graduates are given support and coaching by renowned lecturers on their journey towards becoming musicians with outstanding technical and interpretive skills. In addition to in-depth instrumental or vocal work, the training places considerable importance on developing a mature artistic personality coupled with particular charisma and stage presence. 

Admissions requirements.

The Major in “Soloist” provides the highest level of instrumental/vocal training at ZHdK.
Students who undertake the Major are renowned for their interpretive clarity and communicative performance of seminal works of the repertoire, as well as their  instrumental/vocal expertise.
Prospective students must be particularly gifted, have a strong work ethic, advanced communication skills, and outstanding instrumental or vocal skills.

Benefits of studying at ZHdK.

Studying at ZHdK offers a wealth of unique benefits:

  • The Specialized Music Performance Master’s is a lively degree programme with approx. 80 musicians. 
  • You will gain extensive practical experience and have many opportunities to perform thanks to the diverse relationships with the regional cultural scene and its event organizations.
  • You will enjoy an inspirational environment with colleagues and partners from around the world for discussion and collaboration in a variety of ensembles and orchestras
  • You will meet students from other artistic areas on a daily basis, make contacts and enjoy stimulating collaboration. 
  • You will study at the Toni Campus: a public cultural and university campus for all artistic disciplines that is unparalleled in its dimensions anywhere in Europe.
  • You will benefit from outstanding infrastructure, live electronics and multimedia, audio productions with in-house sound engineers, historical instrument collections and an excellent library.
  • You will have opportunities to undertake exchange semesters and various possibilities to explore other cultures thanks to ZHdK Music’s international network.