Course Teacher
Benedetto Lupo
Regulations 2024-2025
Admission
Admission requirements
- The course is open to musicians of any nationality who are no more than 28 years of age.
- Candidates must possess a 1st or 2nd Level Degree or Conservatory Diploma (old Italian system) in Piano. If the degree was obtained abroad, it will be considered valid if it has been declared equivalent to a Degree or Conservatory diploma; it is the responsibility of any student admitted to a course to obtain the equivalence of the foreign qualification, pursuant to applicable Italian laws.
Exceptions to these requirements may be permitted only in exceptional cases, in the event of special, recognized artistic qualities and subject to the evaluation and approval of both the teacher and the Academic Board.
Provided that the above requirements are met, admission to the course is subject to an entrance examination.
Applications for admission
Applications for admission must be submitted online (form https://santacecilia.it/en/master-courses/form-di-iscrizione-corsi-di-perfezionamento) by no later than the 16th June 2024.
Proof of the application being successfully sent will consist of the e-mail notification sent by the Accademia.
The following documents must be attached to the online application:
- diploma certificate
- artistic CV and list of studied repertoire;
- examination programme at the candidate’s choice;
- photocopy of passport or other identification document;
- proof of payment of the examination admission fee.
Entrance examination
Programme
- one Studio by Chopin or Liszt;
- a Sonata chosen among those by Beethoven, Clementi, Haydn, Mozart;
- two important compositions for piano of different styles, at the candidate’s choice.
Mode
Entrance examinations will be held at the Academy’s headquarters at Via Vittoria 6 (Rome); in accordance with the number of applicants, the 23 or 24 or 25 September 2024. Candidates will receive an e-mail concerning date and schedule.
The candidates shall appear at the examination bearing a valid identification document, as well as the musical material for their examination programme.
The Examination Panel may ask the candidates to perform all or part of the programme.
The pieces shall be prepared in full and performed from memory.
The Panel may ask the candidates to describe the motivations and objectives connected to attending the course.
No supplementary exam session are foreseen.
Duration
The course lasts three years and includes the following exams:
- two intermediate exams (promotion from the 1st to the 2nd year and from the 2nd to the 3rd year);
- a chamber music exam, mandatory for solo instrument students (during the 2nd of the course);
- a diploma exam at the end of the 3rd year of attendance.
The diploma exam can be brought forward to the end of the second year only in exceptional cases, subject to approval by the Academic Board.
Attendance
Every course year is organized in twenty-five days of lessons held by the teacher, in which each student must guarantee attendance of at least 12 individual lessons, as well as the participation in the collective and artistic activities included in the course curriculum.
The student shall organize his/her attendance schedule in accordance with his/her teacher.
Inability to attend one or more scheduled lessons must be communicated to the teacher and to the academic office (Segreteria didattica: didattica@santacecilia.it) as far in advance as possible, in order to allow re-scheduling of the other lessons.
Repeated and/or unjustified absences may result in the exclusion from the promotion or diploma examinations.
In the event of interruption of the course for health-related reasons, the student shall be entitled to repeat the interrupted course year during the subsequent academic year, upon submitting a medical certificate.
Attendance cannot be suspended on educational or artistic grounds; in the event of voluntary interruption of the attendance, a new admission application will have to be submitted within the year, and the corresponding examination will have to be taken.
Students are required to inform their teacher of any educational and/or artistic activities outside the Accademia that are planned during course attendance; in this regard, students enrolled in other courses are asked to submit a certificate of enrolment of the attended courses (2nd level / master programmes, etc.).
Chamber music examination
To access the Diploma examination, students enrolled in solo instrument courses must also take, during the second year of attendance, a Chamber Music examination.
The examination will consist of the public performance of a trio, quartet, or quintet, in collaboration with other students in the courses; its schedule and mode will be announced at the beginning of the academic year. The examination will be prepared by Maestro Andrea Lucchesini.
Exemption from the obligation to take this exam shall be allowed only in the following cases:
- students who already hold a diploma from the Santa Cecilia Academy Chamber Music course;
- students who are enrolled on and currently attending the Santa Cecilia Chamber Music course;
- students in instrumental courses who collaborate with a Chamber Music ensemble for the preparation and performance of the diploma examination.
Chamber Music courses attended at other Institutions shall not be considered for the purposes of exemption.
Promotion examinations
At the end of each year of attendance, students shall take an examination for confirmation and promotion to the subsequent course year, with the programmes indicated below.
Promotion from course year I to II
The examination is composed of several parts; assessment of each part shall go towards determining the final examination grade. The examination is subject to the following repertoire indications:
- Performance of a programme composed of three pieces, one of which from the classical or Baroque repertoire, one from the romantic repertoire, and one from the modern/contemporary repertoire. The programme shall be prepared in full and performed from memory. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme.
- Performance of a work for piano and orchestra, from the Baroque/classical or the romantic/modern repertoire, prepared in full and performed from memory. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme, based also on the duration of the piece or for organizational reasons. The student who submits a work for piano and orchestra from the Baroque/classical period at the examination for promotion from the first to the second year shall be required to submit a work for piano and orchestra from the romantic/modern repertoire at the examination for promotion from the second to the third year, and vice versa.
- Accompaniment of a work for piano and orchestra. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme, based on the assessments already expressed under point 2) above.
Promotion from course year II to III
The examination consists of two parts; assessment of each part shall go towards determining the final examination grade. Pieces performed in the examination for promotion from year I to year II may not be repeated. The examination is subject to the following repertoire indications:
- Performance of a programme composed of three pieces (different from those of the previous year), one of which from the classical or Baroque repertoire, one from the romantic repertoire, and one from the modern/contemporary repertoire. The programme shall be prepared in full and performed from memory. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme.
- Performance of a work for piano and orchestra, from the Baroque/classical or the romantic/modern repertoire, prepared in full and performed from memory. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme, based also on the piece’s duration and formal organization. The student who submitted a work for piano and orchestra from the Baroque/classical period at the examination for promotion from the first year to the second shall be required to submit a work for piano and orchestra from the romantic/modern repertoire at the examination for promotion from the second year to the third, and vice versa.
- Accompaniment of a work for piano and orchestra. The Panel may request the performance of all or part of the submitted programme, based on the assessments already expressed under point 2) above.
Should a student fail to pass a promotion examination, he/she shall be entitled to re-apply for admission to the course only after one academic year has passed.
Diploma examination
Public performance of a concert programme, of the duration of about one hour, composed of at least three important pieces from the instrument’s repertoire, chosen by the President of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from among three entirely different programme proposals, which the candidate must present, subject to the approval of the teacher, no later than the date established and communicated at the beginning of the academic year. The chosen programme will be communicated to the candidate 40 (forty) days before the diploma examination. The programme must be performed in full and from memory.
The programme will also include a short piece that will be assigned by the Academic Board 40 (forty) days before the examination date.
Decisions made by Examination Panels for admissions, promotions and diplomas are final and indisputable.
Fees
Examination and attendance fees
- € 50.00 entrance examination;
- € 950.00 yearly attendance (for students enrolled at the same time in the Chamber Music course, one of the two fees is reduced to € 800.00);
- € 100.00 promotion examination;
- € 250.00 diploma examination.
Students in arrears with their course tuition and examination fees will not be admitted to lessons or to examinations.
All payments, specifying as reason “Piano Course,” may be made via:
- postal account payment
no. 30406003, made out to Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Fondazione - wire transfer
c/c n. 9872, made out to Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Fondazione
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) Agenzia n. 6340 di Roma, Via del Corso, 471
IBAN: IT31 I 010 0503 2400 0000 0009 872
SWIFT: BIC BNL IITRR - Paypal on Fondazione’s website at this link https://santacecilia.it/alta-formazione/paypal
The receipt of the payment for attendance should be sent to the academic office (Segreteria didattica: didattica@santacecilia.it) before the start of classes.
Students may pay the attendance fee in two instalments of equal amount, the second of which is to be paid by no later than 01 March.
Withdrawal from the course shall not entitle the student to be refunded what was paid.
Information and contacts
Academic office (segreteria didattica)
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Via Vittoria, 6 – 00187 Roma
Tel: +39 0632817.348 – 305 – 321
E-mail: didattica@santacecilia.it
Please forward all requests and communications by e-mail to the academic office (Segreteria didattica), specifying the purpose of the request for quicker handling.