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NUS Piano Ensemble

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About CCA#

NUSPE is a student art organisation under the NUS Centre for the Arts, focuses on classical piano duo and duet ensemble repertoire.

Why Should You Join?#

More experience piano ensemble (duet and duo) playing Get more chances to perform together (duet and duo pieces) in concerts

As a side note, the difference between duet and duo:: Duet: 1 piano 2 people Duo: 2 pianos with at least 2 people

Get access to CFA practice rooms with pianos (there are 4 practice rooms): PR3: 1 baby-grand piano PR4: 2 grand pianos PT: 2 upright pianos ST7: 2 upright piano Even though the pianos are not in their best condition, they are definitely better than those public pianos in U Town (Stephen Riady Centre) practice rooms. These practice rooms in CFA studio are the best place to practice piano in NUS.

Occasionally, there might be masterclasses and any other external activities. Last semester, we had the chance to play the harpsichord in YST Conservatory of Music. Although we cannot guarantee the exact chance will occur again in the near future, we will try to find other unique opportunities as such for our members.

Activites/Events#

Weekly Sessions Our sessions are held every Friday, 6.30 PM at Practice Theatre (PT), Runme Shaw CFA Studios. The duration of each session varies but usually lasts for 1 hour. Due to the COVID-19 situation, all the sessions will temporarily be conducted online via Zoom. Our typical weekly activities include discussion about music pieces from our artistic director, masterclasses (occasionally), and internal showcases. Rehearsals are not conducted within the sessions. For this upcoming year, we will incorporate more piano demonstrations in these sessions.

Practice At your own time, literally at your own time! As long as the room is not booked, you can book and use it for practice. There are however additional coaching and rehearsals for concerts.

Internal Concert (Concertino) Concertino is usually held during the last weeks of the semester. Any member who passed the audition are encouraged to perform in Concertino, with a versatile choice of pieces (solo, pop, jazz, etc.).

External Concerts NUSPE has 3 external concerts: Freshmen Concert, Melodias, and Touch.

Freshmen Concert FC is usually held in October, but it is likely not going to happen for the next semester due to the COVID restrictions from NUS. FC acts as a platform to introduce the freshmen to piano ensemble performance. Usually the freshmen will be paired with seniors.

Melodias Melodias is an annual December concert, held in an intimate setting of a 50 seater area in the Esplanade Library (less formal one).

Touch Touch is our annual flagship concert, featuring works for two pianos. It is held in the Esplanade Recital Studio and ticketed at $20.

How to Sign Up?#

You may sign up at the beginning of the academic year during the Student Life Fair, which is held in Week 1 (August 10th-14th, 2020) and then attend our welcome tea (August 17th, 2020). You may also drop us an email around that time if you are unable to make it.

Audition Starting from this academic year onward, there will be an audition for every prospective member. This is to ensure that our members are interested in knowing more about piano ensemble music and have at least some basic skills in piano playing.

Those who wish to play for Touch are expected to show a higher level in playing during the auditions. There are no musical prerequisites to join or perform in Touch, but only based on the audition itself.

What to play? Audition details usually will be released after the Student Life Fair (SLF), about 1-2 weeks before the actual auditions. In addition to the short interview, the audition will usually consist of:

  • One scale
  • One compulsory piece
  • One optional piece of your own choice Although this optional piece is not compulsory, you are highly recommended to prepare for it and take it as a chance to show your skills.

CCA Contact Details#

Senior Contact Details#

Jusuf Nathanael

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