Classical and Contemporary Music

The department of Classical and Contemporary Music is historically at the "heart" of the Conservatoire. This department provides training for classical instruments, in the following sections: "keyboards", "strings", "wind" and "percussion", but also voice, orchestral and choral conducting, and composition.
The teaching team comprises artists of different nationalities, all of whom are widely and actively present as performers on national and international stages, as soloists, chamber musicians, members of great national orchestras, well-known conductors or composers. On the one hand, the teaching staff aim to build on the tradition of excellence and high standards developed by their predecessors at the Conservatoire, including names such as, for the violin, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski and Ysaïe. On the other hand, the faculty seek to support their students in all aspects of their activity and contemporary musical life.
Over 350 students from all over the world find their way to this department, and this gives multiple and varied possibilities for students to meet and learn from each other, whether in chamber music groups or in the 5 or 6 orchestra sessions programmed each year, ranging from classical to more contemporary repertoire.

Objectives

In terms of teaching, the Conservatoire aims to produce accomplished musicians who are experts in their main discipline, while also ensuring that during their studies, students are already developing the tools they will need to deal with the professional world. Students regularly perform on stage within the Conservatoire and in performances with cultural partners. The focus is on helping students develop their ability to construct their own, unique artistic world, also by means of the personal artistic project which they develop at the end of their studies. This project draws on artistic and also academic research, as well as the student's ability to find their place in collective artistic creation and performances.