The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. This school is the music division of the

Amsterdam University of the Arts The Amsterdam University of the Arts () is a Dutch institute for higher professional education located in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Ki ...

, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam is the largest music academy in the Netherlands, offering programs in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

, and

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

History

The oldest predecessor of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam was founded in 1884 as the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, four years before the completion of the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

. In 1920, a competing music academy was established in Amsterdam by a society called 'Muzieklyceum'. The Bachzaal, used by the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, was completed in 1931. In 1976, the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, Conservatory of the Muzieklyceum Society, and the Haarlems Muzieklyceum merged to form the Sweelinck Conservatorium. This "new" academy of music moved to the former savings bank building in the Van Baerlestraat in 1985. In 1994 the Sweelinck Conservatorium merged with Hilversums Conservatorium to form the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. From 1998 its training programmes took place in their facilities in Van Baerlestraat and the Nieuwe Vaart. In 2008 the school moved to Oosterdokseiland.

Building

Since 21 April 2008 the Conservatorium van Amsterdam has its home in a new building at the Oosterdokseiland, near

Amsterdam Central Station Amsterdam Centraal station ( ; abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passengers a day, making it the second busiest railway stati ...

. The new building is centrally located in a cultural area, including the 'Muziekgebouw' with three concert halls for classical music and jazz, and the public library. Other faculties of the

(''Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten'' in Dutch) are within walking distance. This new complex is designed and equipped to current standards. Students can organize solo or ensemble concerts, create interesting projects with other music students or students from other art disciplines. They also make their own posters and flyers, sell tickets, or record their concerts in one of the concert halls and broadcast them on the internet radio at the CvA website. The design, by Dutch architect Frits van Dongen, is based on the 'Engawa model', the Japanese way of building, where the corridors are situated next to the outer walls of the building and the concert halls, classrooms and study rooms, within. Large windows in the front transmits sufficient daylight into the rooms. This building method is intended to enable students to study without being disturbed, while corridors keep noises out. The new building contains three units. At ground level there are four halls: * Bernard Haitinkzaal, a large hall with 450 seats * Amsterdam Blue Note, a hall for jazz and pop concerts, which seats 200 * Sweelinckzaal, a recital hall with 120 seats * Theaterzaal, which seats 50 The Bernard Haitinkzaal and Sweelinckzaal have windows which transmit daylight, which is exceptional for a concert hall. All halls have recording equipment, so that each concert or playing exam can be recorded. There is also a foyer and a canteen at ground level. At the next level there are four floors with lesson and classrooms and on top of these there are two floors with the library, a lecture hall and study rooms. Acoustic planning was by Akoestisch bureau Peutz, who researched the acoustic requirements of the lesson and study rooms and concert halls.

People

Directors

* Okke Westdorp * Joachim Junghans (Head of Jazz & Pop) * Wim Vos (Head of Classical department a.i.) *

Ton Hartsuiker Antoni Fredrik "Ton" Hartsuiker (12 May 1933 in Zwolle – 8 May 2015 in Utrecht) was a Dutch classical pianist, best known as a performer of 20th-century classical music, composer, music school administrator, and radio broadcaster. He was the dir ...

(former)

Faculty

Current

* Richard Ayres * Boris Belkin *

Ilya Grubert Ilya Haimovich Grubert (, ; born 13 May 1954 in Riga) is a classical violinist and professor. Biography Ilya Grubert began his violin studies at the Emīls Dārziņš Music School. He later studied at the Moscow Central Music School and the Mo ...

* Willem Jeths * Peter Kooy *

Anna Korsun Anna Korsun (, born 1986) is a Ukrainian singer, pianist, organist, conductor, composer and academic teacher, based in Germany. Her works have been performed at major European festivals. Life Born in Donetsk, Korsun studied at the Kyiv Conse ...

* Jaap ter Linden * Bart van Oort * Tjako van Schie * Ed Spanjaard * Jos van Veldhoven

Emeriti

Willem Andriessen Willem Andriessen (Haarlem, October 25, 1887 – Amsterdam, March 29, 1964) was a Dutch pianist and composer. His compositional output was small due to the demands of performance and teaching, but he was nonetheless awarded a number of composition ...

(also an alumnus) * Oskar Back * Klaas Bolt * Sarah Bosmans-Benedicts *

Max van Egmond Max van Egmond (born 1 February 1936 in Semarang) is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was one of the pioneers of historically informed performance of ...

* Peter Erős *

Vesko Eschkenazy Vesko Eschkenazy (born 1970) is a violinist who serves as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's concertmaster. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Biography Born into a Bulgarian-Jewish family in 1970, Vesko Panteleev Eschkenazy became a child prodigy i ...

Wim Henderickx Wim Henderickx (; 17 March 196218 December 2022) was a Belgian composer of contemporary classical music. He was composer in residence at Muziektheater Transparant and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, writing operas and other stage works. His m ...

* Herman Krebbers * Ton de Leeuw *

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

Murray Perahia Murray David Perahia ( ; born April 19, 1947) is an American pianist and conductor. He has been considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. ...

* António Chagas Rosa * Jaap Spaanderman (also an alumnus) * Harry Sparnaay *

Theo Verbey Theo Verbey (5 July 1959 – 13 October 2019) was a Dutch people, Dutch composer. His style could be considered to be associated with Postmodern music. Verbey was also orchestrated Alban Berg's Piano Sonata (Berg), Piano Sonata, Op. 1 in 1984 w ...

* Matthijs Verschoor (also an alumnus) *

Abbie de Quant Abbie de Quant (born 1946, The Hague) is a Dutch flautist. She taught at the music academies of Amsterdam and Utrecht and had her own bi-annual concert series at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. Abbie de Quant studied with Koos Verheul at the Music ...

Alumni

Svitlana Azarova Svitlana Azarova (; born 9 January 1976) is a Ukrainian-Dutch composer of contemporary classical music, originally from the Ukrainian SSR. Early years Svitlana Azarova was born on 9 January 1976, in Izmail, then in the Ukrainian SSR, now in Ukra ...

* Kees Bakels * Pieter-Jan Belder * Bart Berman * Coenraad Bloemendal * Hendrik Bouman *

Frans Brüggen Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch Conducting, conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist. Biography Born in Amsterdam, Brüggen was the youngest of the nine children of August Brüggen, a t ...

* Theo Bruins * Sytse Buwalda * Hans Davidsson * Thoms Dunn *

Caro Emerald Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981), formerly known as Caro Emerald and lately part of the music project The Jordan, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer who mainly performs in English. Active since 2007, she rose to prominence in ...

* Ivo van Emmerik * Tom Gaebel * Sim Gokkes *

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lond ...

Majoie Hajary Marie Majoie Hajary (Paramaribo, 16 August 1921 – Neuilly-sur-Seine, 25 August 2017) was a Surinamese-born Dutch-French composer and pianist of contemporary classical music and jazz. She was also a translator and wrote several books for pianists. ...

* Walter Hekster * Robert Hill *

Ilse Huizinga Ilse Huizinga (born 15 October 1966) is a Dutch jazz singer. She performs throughout Europe. History She lived in Australia for a year and attended the University of Amsterdam, where she received a degree in public administration. From 1993 to ...

* Jorge Isaac * Rudolf Jansen *

Christine Kamp Christine Kamp (1966 in Strasbourg, France) is a Dutch organist & pianist. Biography Christine Kamp studied organ and piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, as well as organ, church music, chamber music and lied accompaniment at the ...

* Rudolf Koelman * Reinbert de Leeuw * Charles van der Leeuw * Theo Loevendie * Michael Lowenstern * Daniel Moult * Ben van Oosten * Tera de Marez Oyens * Ella van Poucke * Robin de Raaff *

Lawrence Renes Lawrence Renes (born 1970) is a Dutch-Maltese conductor. He studied violin at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, from which he graduated ''cum laude'' in 1993. Renes was the first prize wi ...

* Martin Schmeding * Cameron Shahbazi * Paul Gutama Soegijo * Marjo Tal * Signe Tollefsen * Merlijn Twaalfhoven * Geertruida Vladeracken * Frank Peter Zimmermann * Uxia Martinez Botana

References

External links

Official Website in Dutch

Official Website in English
{{Authority control 1884 in the Netherlands Amsterdam University of the Arts Music schools in the Netherlands