The "string" department of the Conservatoire has a long and varied history, with a strong tradition while remaining open to contemporary practices and developments. The teaching team includes eminent professors and assistants who are active performers, whether as soloists, chamber musicians, or orchestral musicians. Their complementary experiences in the professional music world come together to offer students a very full, diverse and enriching programme. The active and generous team seeks to support students according to their needs, to help each and every student develop their instrumental and artistic potential to the full. The programme offers students a solid technical base including awareness of stylistic differences related to the repertoire at hand, and an artistic freedom allowing each personality to truly flourish in a friendly and energetic atmosphere.
The Conservatoire offers Bachelors and Masters courses in the double bass.
The Bachelors course consists of three years, while the Masters lasts two years.
These courses allow students to focus on their main discipline, while gaining comprehensive training in artistic, practical and theoretical skills alongside general and cultural skills.
Every year, double bass players participate in orchestra projects (symphonic or chamber), and starting from the second year, students can participate in chamber music classes.
The practical training also includes courses in reading and sight-reading, and orchestra excerpts alongside numerous seminars and masterclasses.
Bachelor students receive a solid basis in musical, cultural and general skills, and are led to develop a specialised understanding of the enormous domain which they are discovering. Double bass students can then build on this solid foundation during the Masters programme, where they are guided to develop their artistic autonomy, culminating in the realisation of a personal artistic project at the end of their studies.
During this second cycle, or masters programme, work with the orchestra and chamber music grows in importance, while the general courses and also the seminars are directly linked to the professional world (recording techniques, marketing...). A further integral part of the course is an introduction to historically informed performance practice, thanks to our close collaboration with the department of early music.
Double bass students regularly take part in ambitious projects, thanks to the special and varied opportunities for collaboration within the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles.