Conservatorium van Amsterdam
Encyclopedia
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
academy
Academy
An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...
of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
located in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. This school is the music division of the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten
Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten
The Amsterdam School of the Arts is a Dutch vocational university of arts located in Amsterdam.The university consists of:* Academy of Fine Art in Education* Academy of Architecture* Conservatorium van Amsterdam - a music academy...
, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is the largest music academy in the Netherlands, offering programs in classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
, music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
, and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
.
History
The oldest predecessor of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam was founded in 1884 as the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, four years before the completion of the ConcertgebouwConcertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...
. 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. Since 1998 its training programmes take place in their facilities in Van Baerlestraat and the Nieuwe Vaart. 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. 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 KunstenAmsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten
The Amsterdam School of the Arts is a Dutch vocational university of arts located in Amsterdam.The university consists of:* Academy of Fine Art in Education* Academy of Architecture* Conservatorium van Amsterdam - a music academy...
(Amsterdam School of the Arts) 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
Frits van Dongen is an architect from the Netherlands. He designed a canal-side municipal theatre for the city of Leeuwarden with his firm De Architecten Cie...
, 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.
Current
- Bob van AsperenBob van AsperenBob van Asperen is a harpsichordist, organist, conductor, clavichordist and early music-specialist.After completing a conventional music course at university, in 1967 he studied under the harpsichord master Gustav Leonhardt. In 1968 he joined the group Quadro Hotteterre, of which he was a member...
- Frieda BelinfanteFrieda BelinfanteFrieda Belinfante was a Dutch cellist, conductor, a prominent lesbian and a member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. After the war, Belinfante immigrated to the United States and continued her career in music...
- Boris BelkinBoris Belkin-Early years:As a child prodigy began studying the violin at the age of six, and made his first public appearance with Kirill Kondrašin when he was seven...
- Marjès Benoist
- Vera Beths
- Willem Brons
- Lucy van DaelLucy van DaelLucy van Dael is a Dutch baroque violinist and member of the faculty of the Amsterdam Conservatory. Her principal violin studies were at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague....
- Dmitri Ferschtman
- Ilya GrubertIlya GrubertIlya Grubert is a Latvian classical violinist. He has won Paganini Competition and Tchaikovsky Competition in 1978.Born in Riga, Grubert began his studies at the Emil Darzins School of Music. He has studied under Yuri Yankelevich and Zinaida Gilels, and then under Leonid Kogan at the Moscow...
- Walter van Hauwe
- Wim HenderickxWim HenderickxWim Henderickx is a Flemish composer based in Antwerp, Belgium.He teaches composition at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and studied at IRCAM, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Darmstadt New Music Summer School.-Style:His music is...
- Peter KooyPeter KooyPeter Kooy is a Dutch bass singer specialized in baroque music.- Biography :Peter Kooy started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student...
- Jaap ter LindenJaap ter LindenJaap ter Linden is a Dutch cellist, viol player and conductor. He specialises in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments....
- Bart van OortBart van OortBart van Oort is a Dutch classical pianist.-Biography:Van Oort was born in Utrecht. After completing his studies in modern piano in the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1983, he studied fortepiano there with Stanley Hoogland...
- Istvan Parkanyi
- Tjako van SchieTjako van SchieTjako van Schie is a Dutch pianist and composer. He is a répétiteur at the Amsterdam Conservatory.- Biography :...
- Reinette Thiadens
- Jos van VeldhovenJos van VeldhovenJos van Veldhoven 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 has been artistic director of De Nederlandse Bachvereniging since 1983...
- Matthijs VerschoorMatthijs VerschoorMatthijs Verschoor is a Dutch classical pianist.He studied at the conservatoires of Rotterdam and Amsterdam and continued his studies in Rome and London. Among his teachers are Bart Berman, Willem Brons and John Bingham....
(also an alumn) - Abbie de QuantAbbie de QuantAbbie de Quant is a renowned Dutch flautist. She teaches at the music academies of Amsterdam and Utrecht and has her own bi-annual concert series at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam....
- David Wilson-JohnsonDavid Wilson-JohnsonDavid Wilson-Johnson is a British operatic and concert baritone.-Career:David Wilson-Johnson studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
Emiriti
- Willem AndriessenWillem AndriessenWillem Andriessen was a Dutch pianist and composer.-Biography:Andriessen studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory, completing his studies in 1906, and was awarded the school's Outstanding Achievement Prize for piano. He appeared frequently in concert performances in the Netherlands, and was noted for...
(also an alumn) - Oskar Back
- Klaas BoltKlaas BoltKlaas Bolt was a Dutch organist and improviser. He taught improvisation at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, where Masaaki Suzuki was among his students. Bolt was a proponent of the use of slow tempi when playing hymns...
- Sarah Bosmans-BenedictsSarah Bosmans-BenedictsSara Bosmans-Benedicts was a Dutch pianist and piano pedagogue.She taught at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam. Among her pupils were Jaap Spaanderman and her own daughter Henriëtte Bosmans.-Source:...
- Max van EgmondMax van EgmondMax van Egmond is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Professional career :...
- Peter ErősPeter ErosHungarian-American conductor Peter Erős was born in Budapest in 1932 and attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied composition with Zoltán Kodály, chamber music with Leo Weiner, and conducting with László Somogyi....
- Vesko EschkenazyVesko EschkenazyVesko Eschkenazy is a Bulgarian violinist. He serves as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's concertmaster.Born in Bulgaria in 1970 into a family of musicians, still a child, Vesko appeared as an orchestra leader. At 11 years old he became concertmaster of the youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Prof....
- Ton HartsuikerTon HartsuikerTon Hartsuiker is a Dutch classical pianist, best known as a performer of 20th century classical music, composer, music school administrator and radio broadcaster. He was the director of both the Music Academy of Utrecht and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and was also on the faculty of the...
- Michael Gieler
- Alexander Kerr
- Herman KrebbersHerman KrebbersHerman Krebbers is a Dutch violinist.Born in Hengelo, Overijssel, Krebbers studied in Amsterdam with Oskar Back. In 1943, the 19 year-old violinist debuted with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and eventually became the Orchestra's Concertmaster in 1962.In parallel he led a shining career as a...
- Ton de LeeuwTon De LeeuwAntonius Wilhelmus Adrianus de Leeuw was a Dutch composer. He was known for his experiments with microtonality....
- Gustav LeonhardtGustav LeonhardtGustav Leonhardt is a highly renowned Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. Leonhardt has been a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments...
- Murray PerahiaMurray PerahiaMurray Perahia KBE is an American concert pianist and conductor.-Early life:Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to a family of Sephardi Jewish origin. According to the biography on his Mozart piano sonatas CD, his first language was Judaeo-Spanish or, Ladino. The family...
- António Chagas RosaAntónio Chagas RosaAntónio Chagas Rosa is a Portuguese composer of contemporary classical music, considered one of the leading figures of contemporary musical writing of his generation....
- Jaap SpaandermanJaap SpaandermanJacobus Hendrikus Bastiaan Spaanderman jr. was a Dutch pianist, cellist, conductor and piano and conducting pedagogue....
(also an alumn)
Alumni
- Svitlana AzarovaSvitlana Azarovathumb|Svitlana AzarovaSvitlana Azarova is a Ukrainian/Dutch composer of contemporary classical music born January 9, 1976 in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union.-Early years:...
- Hannes Minnaar
- Kees BakelsKees BakelsKees Bakels is a Dutch conductor.Bakels began his musical career as a violinist, and later studied conducting at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy...
- Daria van den Bercken
- Bart BermanBart BermanBart Berman is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and composer, best known as an interpreter of Franz Schubert and 20th century music....
- Coenraad BloemendalCoenraad BloemendalCoenraad Bloemendal is a 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:...
- Hendrik BoumanHendrik BoumanHendrik "Henk" Bouman is a Dutch harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and composer of music written in the baroque and classical idioms of the 17th & 18th Century.- Biography :...
- Daniel Bruggen
- Frans BrüggenFrans BrüggenFrans Brüggen is a well-known Dutch conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist.-Biography:Brüggen studied recorder and flute at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. He also studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam. In 1955, at the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal...
- Hans DavidssonHans DavidssonHans Davidsson is a Swedish organist and teacher. He was one of the driving forces behind establishing the organ research center GOArt in Göteborg, Sweden...
- Thoms DunnThomas Dunn (musician)Thomas Dunn was an American musician and music editor known for his performances of Baroque music. He is considered an important figure in the development of the modern Early Music Revival and Historically informed performance in the United States.-Early years:He was born in Aberdeen, South...
- Ivo van EmmerikIvo van EmmerikIvo van Emmerik is a Dutch composer.Ivo van Emmerik lives and works in Zwolle, where he teaches twentieth-century music at the Arnhem/Zwolle School of Music ....
- Tom GaebelTom GaebelTom Gaebel is a German singer and leader of a big band named after himself. He changed the spelling of his last name, avoiding the umlaut to give it an international sheen. In addition to singing and arranging music, Gaebel writes lyrics in English....
- Bernard HaitinkBernard HaitinkBernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH, KBE is a Dutch conductor and violinist.- Early life :Haitink was born in Amsterdam, the son of Willem Haitink and Anna Haitink. He studied music at the conservatoire in Amsterdam...
- Walter HeksterWalter HeksterWalter Hekster is a Dutch composer, clarinetist and conductor of classical music, specializing in contemporary classical music....
- Ilse HuizingaIlse HuizingaIlse Huizinga is a Dutch jazz singer. She performs throughout Europe.-History:Ilse Huizinga was born in Beverwijk, the Netherlands in October 1966 and grew up in Nijmegen. It was an old piano given to her family at the age of six, which first drew Huizinga to music...
- Jorge IsaacJorge IsaacJorge Isaac completed his professional training under with Walter van Hauwe at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2000. In 2002 Isaac received his Master's degree in contemporary performance & live electronics at the same institution...
- Christine KampChristine Kamp- Biography :She studied organ and piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, as well as organ, church music, chamber music and lied accompaniment at the Utrecht conservatory. Her organ teachers included Ewald Kooiman, Jacques van Oortmerssen and Jan Raas, Ronald Brautigam and Thom Bollen...
- Rudolf KoelmanRudolf KoelmanRudolf Koelman is a Dutch violinist born in Amsterdam in 1959 and is currently a professor at the "Zürcher Hochschule der Künste" in Switzerland.-Biography:...
- Theo Olof
- Paul Leenhouts
- Johannes Leertouwer
- Charles van der LeeuwCharles van der LeeuwCharles van der Leeuw is a Dutch journalist currently based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.After studying composition at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, he became a journalist...
- Theo LoevendieTheo LoevendieTheo Loevendie is a Dutch composer and clarinet player.Loevendie studied composition and clarinet at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam. Initially he concentrated on jazz music. As off 1968 he also wrote concert music, among which operas, concertos and chamber music...
- Daniel MoultDaniel MoultDaniel Moult is a concert organist, organ tutor and animateur, ensemble player and presenter of films about music.-Education:Daniel Moult was born in Manchester, England. He attended Manchester Grammar School and St John’s College, Oxford, where he was organ scholar...
- Ben van OostenBen van OostenBen van Oosten is an organist, professor and author.Ben van Oosten gave his first organ recital in 1970 at the age of 15. He was accepted at the prestigious Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and studied the organ with Albert de Klerk and piano with Berthe Davelaar...
- Tera de Marez OyensTera de Marez OyensTera de Marez Oyens was a Dutch composer.De Marez Oyens was born as Woltera Gerharda Wansink. She studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with a major in piano. Here, her talent for composition was discovered as she wrote her first pieces. These included chamber music and song cycles...
- Lawrence RenesLawrence RenesLawrence Renes is a Dutch conductor. Renes studied violin at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, from which he graduated cum laude in 1993....
- Pamela Thorby
- Signe TollefsenSigne TollefsenSigne Tollefsen is a US-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, Signe Tollefsen started to sing at the age of 7...
- Merlijn TwaalfhovenMerlijn TwaalfhovenMerlijn Twaalfhoven is a Dutch composer and theatre maker. He graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2003. Twaalfhoven is internationally active in creating innovative projects and writing new music for orchestras, choirs and chamber music groups...
- Matthijs VerschoorMatthijs VerschoorMatthijs Verschoor is a Dutch classical pianist.He studied at the conservatoires of Rotterdam and Amsterdam and continued his studies in Rome and London. Among his teachers are Bart Berman, Willem Brons and John Bingham....
- Frank Peter ZimmermannFrank Peter ZimmermannFrank Peter Zimmermann is a German violinist.He was born in Duisburg, Germany, and started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10....