Beginning in the academic year 2022/23, the Department of Piano Performance will return to the model of a five-year Master's degree in piano performance without a Bachelor's degree. The typical applicant for study is a graduate or student of a conservatory or music high school (according to the Higher Education Act, an applicant without a high school diploma, without a matriculation examination, may be admitted to study if he/she demonstrates the talent requirements for the study).
The study programme Piano Performance corresponds to the international standard ISCED/EQF 7 and is fully compatible within the European Higher Education Area EHEA including the ECTS credit system. In practice, this means that within the five-year Master's programme, a student can study up to 2 years in total at a foreign university of his/her choice (the costs of study and stay are usually covered by the Erasmus+ programme). The study abroad can also be divided into different years, e.g. into four one-semester internships at universities in different countries. The main advantages of a five-year Master's degree over a Bachelor's and Master's degree, apart from the variability of study abroad, are the possibility of longer-term planning of repertoire, participation in competitions, orchestral auditions and concert projects.
The Piano Performance program provides education for future professional pianists and piano teachers at all levels of arts education. It builds on traditions, while introducing a number of relative to absolute innovations that aim to prepare graduates for contemporary practice (specialized courses in piano accompaniment, chamber music and piano pedagogy, as well as pianist self-management, technology in piano practice, masterclasses, studio recording, analysis of piano compositions, contemporary piano literature, basics of piano maintenance, basics of conducting, etc.).
The main conceptual strength of the program is the choice of a sub-specialization only during the course of study. We start from the assumption that the entrance examinations, although they sufficiently test the musical and pianistic disposition of the candidate, cannot provide a comprehensive enough picture of his/her personality to immediately decide on his/her future direction in practice. Therefore, the first three years of study are universally focused - mainly on solo performance, chamber music and piano pedagogical training. At the end of the third year at the latest, the student then chooses one of two specialisations, either Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy or Piano Performance and Chamber Playing, based on his/her own study experience, self-reflection and intentions for further work in the field. Both specializations are equivalent in the area of solo playing - they have the same repertoire and performance demands. They differ in their education in piano pedagogy and chamber music, respectively, both in the composition of the courses of study and in the content of the state final examination. If a student is also interested in some subjects from a specialisation not chosen by him/her, he/she may apply for their enrolment. The student even has the right to fully study both specialisations, including the state final examinations.
The successful graduate will receive a diploma with an internationally valid Diploma Supplement. Alternatively, he/she can continue his/her studies in a doctoral programme, typically in the programme "Interpretation and Theory of Interpretation" (highest possible qualification ISCED/EQF 8), which is run at JAMU in cooperation with HAMU, under the guidance of the joint disciplinary board of both academies.
This curriculum is overlaid by the piano performance curriculum, in which the student prepares for the choice of specialisation (piano playing and chamber music or piano playing and piano pedagogy) at the end of the third year.
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Prospect of successful study
Our piano performance students present themselves every year not only with their yearly or graduation recitals. They successfully take part in international competitions, including the most prestigious ones worldwide (sample video). In the case of repeated successes in multi-round competitions, they are included by the Czech Music Fund Foundation on the so-called premium list of young artists for a period of three concert seasons, which brings them concert opportunities within the national network of circles of friends of music (see, for example, the SPH 2022 concert). They are often invited to festival stages as soloists or chamber players or to radio studios (Studio 1 live), and become part of award-winning chamber ensembles. They also regularly appear as soloists in orchestral concerts - for example, in the last academic year 2021/22 with the MFO in Olomouc (Schumann and Mendelssohn), with the PKF in Prague (Beethoven) and with the JAO in Brno (Shostakovich). Students and recent graduates of the department are also involved in successful recording projects, both classical (e.g. CD Opera diversa 2020 - ToccataClassic 2022) and multi-genre (Jazz Album of the Year 2021 and the Anděl Award).
Staff and technical background of the study programme
The pedagogical guidance of the Master's programme in Piano Performance is provided by pianists with the necessary international concert and recording experience, piano teachers with extensive experience and results, senior staff of leading musical institutions, festival organisers, pianists and other practitioners. As part of the masterclass course, students have the opportunity to work under the guidance of visiting international teachers. In the last decade the department has had courses taught by pianists Avner Arad (Israel), Hakon Austbo (Norway), Ida Cernecká (Slovakia), Arthur Greene (USA), Ayako Ikeba (Japan), Eugen Indjic (France), Kiril Monorosi (Australia), Otto Niederdorfer (Austria), Vera Nosina (Russia), Alicja Paleta (Poland), Inge Rosar (Germany), Eleonora Tkach (Ukraine), Arkadi Zenziper (Germany) and others.
The study takes place in spacious classrooms equipped with top-of-the-range Steinway, Bösendorfer, Steingraeber and Yamaha grand pianos, with audiovisual and IT facilities, a practical local library of the Method Centre in the department's premises and a central library in the Astorka dormitory building. The third floor of the historic Faculty of Music building is reserved for students to practice, and the six practice rooms of the Piano Department are equipped with Steinway, Petrof and Yamaha grand pianos. Three additional practice rooms with grand pianos are located in the residence hall building, with nighttime facilities. Students can borrow digital Clavins, such as for their dorm room, for a year free of charge. The production of audio-video demos is possible either self-service in the concert hall or through the Audiovisual Studio of the Faculty of Music, or in the professional studio of the JAMU in the Orlí Theatre. Video recordings of the Master's graduation concerts are archived in the JAMU electronic information system. The concert hall has Steinway D274 and Shigeru Kawai EX278 grand pianos, noiseless air conditioning with automatic humidity control and newly modified acoustics.