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

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam is the largest music academy in the Netherlands, offering programs in classical music,

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

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

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classic ...

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origin ...

, and

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

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 The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls ...

. 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 The Nieuwe Vaart or Nieuwevaart is a 17th-century canal in Amsterdam that runs from the center to Amsterdam-Oost (Amsterdam East). Kromhout Museum is located on the Nieuwe Vaart. On this site, the Westkap is still used as a shipyard, but the Oost ...

. In 2008 the school moved to Oosterdokseiland.

Building

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

Amsterdam Central Station Amsterdam Centraal Station ( nl, italic=no, Station Amsterdam Centraal ; 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, ...

. 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 Amsterdam University of the Arts (''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 Frits van Dongen (born 12 March 1946, in 's-Hertogenbosch) is an architect from the Netherlands. He designed a canal-side municipal theatre for the city of Leeuwarden with his firm De Architecten Cie. The building he designed that is known as T ...

, 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

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 ...

Faculty

Current

Richard Ayres Richard Ayres (born 29 October 1965, Cornwall) is a British composer and music teacher. Biography Born in Cornwall, England, Richard Ayres followed Morton Feldman's classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools. He studied compositio ...

Boris Belkin Boris Davidovich Belkin (russian: Борис Давидович Белкин; born 26 January 1948) is a Soviet-born violin virtuoso. Teachers He was taught by Yuri Yankelevich and Isaac Stern. Early years As a child prodigy he began studying ...

Ilya Grubert Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/Jah ...

Willem Jeths Willem Jeths (born 31 August 1959) is a Dutch classical composer. Early life Jeths was born in Amersfoort. He started his musical career as a child with piano and music theory lessons in the Music School of Amersfoort with Paul Seeling. He ori ...

Peter Kooy Peter Kooij (or, internationally Kooy, born 1954, in Soest) is a Dutch bass singer who specializes in baroque music. Biography Kooij started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin studen ...

Anna Korsun Anna Korsun ( uk, Анна Корсун, italic=no, 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 Donet ...

Jaap ter Linden Jaap ter Linden (born 10 April 1947, in Rotterdam) is a Dutch cellist, viol player and conductor. He specialises in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments. He began his career as principal cellist of notable baroq ...

Bart van Oort Bart van Oort (born June 6, 1959) is a Dutch classical pianist. Biography Van Oort was born in Utrecht. After completing his studies in modern piano in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in 1983, he studied fortepiano there with Stanley Hoogl ...

Tjako van Schie Tjako van Schie (born April 17, 1961 in Coevorden) is a Dutch pianist and composer. He is a répétiteur at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Biography Since 1999 Van Schie has been working as a host professor at the conservatory of Porto (Portugal ...

Ed Spanjaard Eduard Philip Spanjaard (born 22 December 1948), known professionally as Ed Spanjaard, is a Dutch conductor and pianist. Early life Spanjaard was born in 1948 in Haarlem. His father was a psychiatrist and amateur pianist, and his mother a fla ...

Jos van Veldhoven Josephus Maria Martinus van Veldhoven (born 1952 in Den Bosch) is a Dutch choral conductor. He studied musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit of Utrecht, and choral and orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatory, the Hague. He was artistic di ...

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 compositio ...

(also an alumnus) *

Oskar Back Oskar Back (9 June 18793 January 1963) was a noted Austrian-born Dutch classical violinist and pedagogue. He taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory for 42 years, and also had a significant earlier teaching career in Belgium. Biography Oskar Back wa ...

Klaas Bolt Klaas Bolt (March 6, 1927 in Appingedam – April 11, 1990 in Haarlem) was a Dutch organist and improviser. He taught improvisation at the Sweelinck Conservatory (named for Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, a Dutch organist and composer of the Renais ...

Sarah Bosmans-Benedicts Sara Bosmans-Benedicts (23 October 1861 – 12 November 1949) was a Dutch pianist and piano pedagogue. Benedicts was born in Amsterdam, the daughter of Benedictus Benedicts and Hanna de Goede. Her parents were Jewish; her father was a violinist a ...

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 Peter Sandor Erős (22 September 1932, Budapest - 12 September 2014, Seattle) was a Hungarian-American conductor. Erős attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied composition with Zoltán Kodály, chamber music with Leó Weiner, a ...

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 in ...

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 Herman Krebbers (18 June 1923 – Tilburg 2 May 2018) was a Dutch violinist. Born in Hengelo, Overijssel, Krebbers studied in Amsterdam with Oskar Back. He gave his first concert at age 10. In 1943, Krebbers debuted with the Concertgebouw ...

Ton de Leeuw Antonius Wilhelmus Adrianus de Leeuw (Rotterdam, 16 November 1926 - Paris, 31 May 1996) was a Dutch composer. He occasionally experimented with microtonality. Life and career Taught by Henk Badings, Olivier Messiaen and others, and in his youth ...

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. Le ...

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

António Chagas Rosa António Chagas Rosa (born 1960) is a Portuguese composer of contemporary classical music, considered one of the leading figures of contemporary musical writing of his generation. His output includes chamber operas, song-cycles and numerous wo ...

* Jaap Spaanderman (also an alumnus) *

Theo Verbey Theo Verbey (5 July 1959 – 13 October 2019) was a Dutch composer. Biography Theo Verbey was a Dutch contemporary classical composer whose music is performed by orchestras and ensembles throughout the world. His style could be considered to ...

* 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 ( uk, Світлана Азарова; 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, t ...

* Kees Bakels *

Pieter-Jan Belder Pieter-Jan Belder (born 19 January 1966) is a Dutch instrumentalist in historically informed performance, playing recorder, harpsichord and fortepiano. He founded the ensemble Musica Amphion for recordings and performances. Career Born in Capel ...

Bart Berman Bart Berman ( he, ברט ברמן; born 29 December 1938) is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and composer, best known as an interpreter of Franz Schubert and 20th-century music. Career Bart Berman studied piano with Jaap Spaanderman at a predecessor ...

Coenraad Bloemendal Coenraad Bloemendal (born April 30, 1946 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-born Canadian cellist, who has performed, taught and recorded primarily in the field of classical music during a career that has spanned more than four decades. Formal training I ...

Hendrik Bouman Hendrik "Henk" Bouman (born 29 September 1951, in Dordrecht)David Cummings, International Who's Who In Music And Musicians' Directory 1994/5, page 92 is a Dutch harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and composer of music written in the baroque ...

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

Theo Bruins Theo Bruins (25 November 1929, in Arnhem – 8 January 1993, in Haarlem) was a Dutch pianist and composer. Life and career Bruins' earliest piano lessons were with his mother. His professional piano studies commenced in 1946 with Jaap Spaanderm ...

Sytse Buwalda Sytse Buwalda (born 1965) is a Dutch counter-tenor. Life and career Buwalda studied at the Sweelinck School of Music ( Conservatorium van Amsterdam) in Amsterdam and has worked with conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Gustav Leonhardt, Sigiswald ...

Hans Davidsson Hans Davidsson (born 1958) is a Swedish organist and pedagogue. He was one of the driving forces behind establishing the organ research center GOArt and the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative. He is currently professor of organ at the Royal Danish ...

* Thoms Dunn *

Caro Emerald Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981), known for the project Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer who mainly performs in English. Active since 2007, she rose to prominence in 2009 with the debut single, " Back It Up". Th ...

* Ivo van Emmerik *

Tom Gaebel Tom Gaebel is a German singer and leader of a big band named after himself. He changed the spelling of his last name, omitting the umlaut. In addition to singing and arranging, Gaebel writes lyrics in English. Gaebel was born on 13 January 197 ...

Sim Gokkes Simon (Sim) Gokkes (21 March 1897, Amsterdam – 5 February 1943, Auschwitz) was a Dutch-Jewish composer. Biography As a child, Gokkes took his first singing lessons with Ben Geysel, an opera singer who ran the Rembrandt Theatre of Amsterdam. ...

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 Lon ...

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

* Walter Hekster * Robert Hill *

Ilse Huizinga Ilse Huizinga (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 1996 ...

* Jorge Isaac * Christine Kamp * Rudolf Koelman *

Reinbert de Leeuw Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...

Charles van der Leeuw Charles van der Leeuw (born 1952) is a Dutch journalist and author. Biography Van der Leeuw was born in The Hague, The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign s ...

Theo Loevendie Johan Theodorus Loevendie (born 17 September 1930 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch composer and clarinet player. Loevendie studied composition and clarinet at the music academy (Conservatorium) of Amsterdam. Initially he concentrated on jazz music. A ...

* Daniel Moult *

Ben van Oosten Bernardus Franciscus van Oosten (born 8 April 1955) is a Dutch organist, pedagogue and author. He is titular organist of the Grote Kerk in his hometown of The Hague and is an organ professor at Rotterdam Conservatoire. Biography Ben van Oosten ...

* Tera de Marez Oyens * Ella van Poucke *

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 winn ...

* Martin Schmeding *

Cameron Shahbazi Cameron Shahbazi ( fa, کامران شهبازی; born 1992) is a Persian-Canadian operatic countertenor who has performed leading roles at opera houses and festivals in Europe, performing both Baroque and contemporary opera. He has sung the titl ...

Paul Gutama Soegijo Paul Gutama Soegijo (29 January 1934 – 7 January 2019) was an Indonesian composer and musician, active in Berlin. Born in Yogyakarta on the island of Java, Soegijo studied composition with Boris Blacher at Berlin's . He began his compositional ...

* Marjo Tal *

Signe Tollefsen Signe Tollefsen is an American–Dutch singer-songwriter, settled in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her music has been described as folk rock. Biography Growing up in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as the child of an American father and a Dutch mother, S ...

Merlijn Twaalfhoven Merlijn Twaalfhoven (born February 14, 1976, Wapserveen) is a Dutch composer. He graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2003. Twaalfhoven is internationally active in creating innovative projects and writing Contemporary classical musi ...

Geertruida Vladeracken Geertruida van Vladeracken (18 April 1880 – 2 January 1947) was a Dutch composer, singer, and writer. Vladeracken was born in Haarlem to Gerard Pieter van Vladeracken and Jacoba Elisabeth Foreest van Vladeracken. She had three siblings. She stu ...

Frank Peter Zimmermann Frank Peter Zimmermann (born 27 February 1965) is a German violinist. Childhood He was born in Duisburg, West Germany, and started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. Since he ...

* 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