The Conservatoire de musique de Genève is a

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 in ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The Conservatory hosts 2,400 non-professional students. Since 2009, the professional courses have been led by the

Geneva University of Music The Haute école de musique de Genève is a professional higher music education institution in Geneva, Switzerland. Status The HEM is a foundation established under public law in 2009. It is part of the Music and Performing Arts Department of t ...

(''Haute école de musique de Genève'').

History

The school was founded by in 1835. Its current building, designed by Jean-Baptiste Lesueur, dates from 1858. This conservatory is the oldest music education institution in Switzerland, and one of the oldest conservatories in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

taught at this conservatory during the first year of its history. The Geneva International Music Competition was founded in 1939 in the Conservatory, and is its first international competition.

Directors

* Nathan Bloc (1835—1849) * Jules Delacour (1849—1859) * Ami Girard (1859—1892) * Ferdinand Held (1892—1925) * Henri Gagnebin (1925—1957) * Samuel Baud-Bovy (1957—1970) * Claude Viala (1970—1992) * Philippe Dinkel (1992—2021) * Béatrice Zawodnik (since 2021)

Notable alumni

Thijs van Leer Thijs van Leer (; born 31 March 1948) is a Dutch singer and keyboardist, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer ...

, lead vocalist and flautist of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Focus Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

, graduated with a degree in flute and composition

References

External links

Official website of Geneva University of Music

Official website of Geneva Conservatory
Music schools in Switzerland Cultural venues in Geneva Schools in Geneva Educational institutions established in 1835 1835 establishments in Switzerland Baroque architecture in Switzerland Music in Geneva {{Switzerland-stub