Sala_Alberto_Castilla_desde_ la_Orquesta

The Conservatory of Tolima is one of the most important musical schools in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Its clearest predecessor was the School of Music for strings and piano founded by the Melendro and Sicard families, which led to the creation of the Colegio San Simón, but its beginnings were in the Academy of Music created by Ordinance No. 22 of 1889 and in the decree of Governor José I. Camacho who, on April 22, 1893, named maestro Temístocles Vargas as its principal. The Academy suspended operations upon the outbreak of the

Thousand Days' War The Thousand Days' War ( es, Guerra de los Mil Días) was a civil war fought in Colombia from 17 October 1899 to 21 November 1902, at first between the Colombian Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the government led by the National Party (Colomb ...

, and reappeared in 1906, around the Orchestra School directed by maestro Alberto Castilla. The historian Héctor Villegas, who for many years was both the principal and a teacher at the institution, attributes the belief that the Conservatory was founded in 1906 to oral tradition, but indicates that no document supports this. Instead he provides the documentation for the date mentioned earlier. Also, in the book "Itinerary of a Feat: History of the Tolima Music Conservatory" by Carlos Orlando Pardo Viña, the earlier date is corroborated by the recording of the fact of the Academy of Music's suspension. From 1959 until 1998 the Conservatory of Tolima was led by

Amina Melendro de Pulecio Aminatu (also Amina; died 1610) was a Hausa Muslim historical figure in the city-state Zazzau (now city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria. She might have ruled in the mid-sixteenth century. A controver ...

, who had previously been a piano teacher and vice principal of the school. She also founded the High School of Music, known today as the Conservatory of Ibagué. She was responsible for its conversion to a university of music in 1983. For several years the International Choir Contest was held, based in Ibagué, but attended by choirs from various countries of the Americas and Europe. In 1994 it was declared a National Monument and its Alberto Castilla Hall was named a masterwork of architecture and design. The Conservatory is currently housed in a Republican style building, with adobe masonry, rammed earth in some parts, wood floors, roofed in clay tile and with false ceilings. It was the seat of the Normal School and of a monastery run by the Community of the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

. The Conservatory of Tolima currently offers high level certified education in Music performance, sound production and music performance, among others.

References

External links

Conservatorio del Tolima
{{coord missing, Colombia Landmarks in Colombia Music organisations based in Colombia Universities and colleges in Colombia