The Academy of Music ( hr, Muzička akademija or MUZA) is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

based in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art and the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

. It is the oldest and largest music school in the country, tracing its origins back to 1829 when the Zagreb Musical Society's school (german: Tonschule des Agramer Musikvereines) was established, at a time when Croatia was part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

. After World War II the Academy was officially recognized as an institution of higher education and in 1979 it became part of the

. The Academy today has around 500 students and a 150-member teaching staff. The Academy traditionally organizes two grand concerts every year held at the

Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall ( hr, Koncertna dvorana Vatroslava Lisinskog) is a large concert hall and convention center in Zagreb, Croatia. It is named after Vatroslav Lisinski, a 19th-century Croatian composer. The building has a big hall wit ...

, along with almost 300 various smaller concerts throughout the year held at smaller venues around Zagreb.

History

The Academy traces its roots to the in-house music school established in February 1829 by the German-language ''Agramer Musikverein'' (or Zagreb Musical Society) modeled after the Musikverein in Vienna and which later evolved into the present-day

Croatian Music Institute Croatian Music Institute ( hr, Hrvatski glazbeni zavod, HGZ) is the oldest music institution in Croatia. Also, after the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, it is the second most important concert hall in Zagreb. It was founded in 1827 under title ...

. The school originally offered three-year courses in singing and

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s. The school became the Institute's conservatory in 1916. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the school continued to grow and was renamed several times. Following the dissolution of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in 1918 and the establishment of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

it became the "Royal Conservatory" in 1921 (''Kraljevski konzervatorij'') and then the "Royal Academy of Music" (''Kraljevska muzička akademija'') in 1922. At the time the school comprised primary, secondary and tertiary levels of musical education. In 1923 its teachers first gained the title of professors and the Academy was re-organized into five main departments. In 1940 the Academy was officially recognized as a university-level faculty. After World War II in 1951 the school is broken up into the primary and secondary music school (the present-day "Vatroslav Lisinski" School of Music) and the university-level academy named Zagreb Academy of Music (''Muzička akademija u Zagrebu''), which originally had seven departments. In 1967 the Academy established its Musicology Institute which later grew into an additional department in 1974, and five years later the Academy was incorporated into the

in 1979. The Academy is the only Croatian member of the

European Association of Conservatoires The European Association of Conservatoires (AEC) is the main association of colleges and university schools of music in Europe and represents the interests of institutions that are concerned with training for the music profession. It is abbreviate ...

(AEC), the main European association of

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

s and

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

schools of music.

Location

The Academy currently occupies the reconstructed Ferimport building at

Republic of Croatia Square Republic of Croatia Square ( hr, Trg Republike Hrvatske) is one of the biggest squares in Zagreb, Croatia. The square is located in Lower Town, with the Croatian National Theatre building at its centre. It is sometimes billed as the "most ...

which was completed in September 2014, following delays which pushed its completion date by three years from the originally planned date of 2011. The Academy had signed a 100-year lease contract with the City of Zagreb in 2009, which also agreed to provide half of the HRK 210 million (

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

27.5 million) funding spent to restore the building (with the other half provided by the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports). The restored building occupies some 12.000 square meters spread over three underground and eight ground levels, and hosts 7 departments of the Academy with its 150 full-time employees, several dozen contractors and 550 students. The Academy also operates a regional department in Rijeka which offers courses in singing and piano.

Organisation

Departments

As of 2010 the academy has eight departments: * Musical composition and music theory department (''Odsjek za kompoziciju i teoriju glazbe'') * Musicology department (''Odsjek za muzikologiju'') * Conducting, harp and

percussion instruments A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

department (''Odsjek za dirigiranje, harfu i udaraljke'') *

Singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or with ...

department (''Odsjek za pjevanje'') *

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, harpsichord and organ department (''Odsjek za klavir, čembalo i orgulje'') * String instruments and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

department (''Odsjek za gudačke instrumente i gitaru'') *

Wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s department (''Odsjek za duhačke instrumente'') * Music education department (''Odsjek za glazbenu pedagogiju'')

References

External links