Piano 2025: Repertoire

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

Semifinals Round

Sunday, July 20 and Monday, July 21

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

Tuesday, July 22

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

Thursday, July 24

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