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Piano recital program template, free and printable

A piano studio recital program has the same parts every time: a cover, the order of performers, and a thank-you. Here is what goes where, and a free template that does the fiddly parts for you.

What goes on it

• Cover: the studio name, "Winter Piano Recital" (or similar), the date, the time and the place. A one-line note like "Please silence your phones" fits at the bottom.
• Each piece: the title as the publisher prints it, the composer's full name, and the composer's years in brackets or on the line below. Then the student's name, usually centred or on the right, with the instrument if anyone plays something other than piano.
• Intermission if the recital runs over about an hour.
• Back page: thanks to families, the venue, page turners and anyone who baked.

The usual order

Most teachers go from the youngest or newest students to the most advanced, and put duets and ensembles where they break up a run of solos. Two students playing the same piece in a row feels repetitive; space them out. If one family has three children, spread them through the program so the family isn't stuck waiting.

Writing the pieces the standard way

• Use an en dash between years: 1752–1832. For a living composer write "b. 1950".
• Capitalize "Op." and "No.": Op. 36 No. 1. Catalogue numbers have their own letters: BWV (Bach), K. (Mozart), Hob. (Haydn), D. (Schubert), WoO (Beethoven works without opus number).
• Movements go on their own line, in italics or indented.
• For a teaching piece from a method book, the composer is the person credited on the page (for example William Gillock or Nancy Faber). Arrangements get "arr. Name".

Program Fold fills in the composer's full name and years as you type, and offers the key and catalogue number for standard works from MusicBrainz.

Booklet or single sheet?

Up to about 12 performers fit on one letter page. Beyond that, a folded booklet (half-letter pages) reads better and leaves room for a cover. A booklet always has a multiple of four pages: one sheet of paper folded in half gives 4 pages, two sheets give 8. Printing it yourself needs the pages in a special order; Program Fold's booklet PDF already has them that way. See how to print a booklet.

Free Word templates vs. filling in a form

A Word or Google Docs template is fine for a short recital. Where it gets tedious: tables that break when a title wraps, retyping composer dates, and redoing the booklet order when a student drops out the night before. With Program Fold you change the list and download again; the layout and page order follow.

Examples you can open

Made with Program Fold from made-up programs. Each one is a real PDF: open it, print it, or copy the layout.