servei public

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PUBLIC SERVICE

An open proposal to everyone

servei public-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PUBLIC SERVICE

An open proposal to everyone

servei-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PUBLIC SERVICE

An open proposal to everyone

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS PUBLIC SERVICE

The several centers and curricula of the Liceu Conservatory offer music education to thousands of people, making it an Institution deeply established in the country. The Liceu Conservatory promotes the social awareness of its students, with the conviction that Music is essential to improve society.

THE LICEU CONSERVATORY IS A PUBLIC SERVICE, as a certain reference for anyone who has wanted to study music since its creation in 1837 in this country. The value contribution of the Conservatory reaches significant figures in the Institutional, educational, artistic, cultural, and social fields. During its 185th anniversary school year, the Liceu Conservatory is offering music education to 10,139 students, in Bachelor’s Degrees and Master’s studies, in the Professional Center. It also features the affiliation of 38 centers –combining Schools of Music and Schools of General Regime– in the frame of the project of Musical Elementary School.

From its origins to the present day, the Institution has worked to offer comprehensive training to students. This way, they not only develop their musical talent and skills to the maximum but, with their music, they also acquire the values and abilities to create spaces of social transformation, with the firm conviction that music contributes to social and ethical progress.

With the aim of extending music training and artistic practice, especially among children and young people, the Liceu Conservatory Foundation offers to its affiliated schools –heirs of the first affiliated schools born in 1932– its curricula. It signifies the continuous evaluation of the students, educational resources and training of the teaching staff, and several participatory artistic activities. The curricula include a wide and diverse range of music that can guide music lovers throughout their lives. Covering the early childhood stages, for children aged 6 to 12 in schools, young people, and adult amateurs in the several programs, regulated and non-regulated, taught in the Professional Center. Moreover, in the more specialized training at the Center of Higher Education, where Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s students share their artistic and formative experience with future musicians of creative curiosity, among them, numerous international students.

The Liceu Conservatory’s influence in Catalan society truly connects with the amount of people who study and have studied in its classrooms. Not only those who become professional musicians, but also many people who go there to obtain a training to allow them to enjoy Music as fans with greater culture.

Since the creation of the Conservatory and until 1847, the number of students remained around one hundred, divided between the solfeggio, singing, violin and declamation classes. However, by 1888 there were more than 900 students. To have a reference, the estimated number of people who studied at the Liceu Conservatory from 1867 to 1967 was more than 100,000 people.

The vocation of the Liceu Conservatory as a public service entity had a significant episode during the Spanish Second Republic. By the Decree of July 27, 1936, signed by Minister of Culture Ventura i Gasol, and Catalonia’s president Lluís Companys, the Liceu Conservatory is nationalized and becomes a specialized center for higher musical education, subject to the Government of Catalonia. President Companys, as the celebration of the first centenary of the Liceu Conservatory approached, stated, “[The] aim of renovation felt by the Catalan academic Institutions is also manifested at the long-serving Liceu Conservatory, such a traditional Institution of our city that within a few months it will celebrate its centenary […]. The Government would like [it to celebrate] with the vitality and prestige that this long-serving Catalan artistic Institution deserves.” At the same time, the Liceu Conservatory took over the commission for artistic education created by the Government of Catalonia to coordinate all the artistic centers of music, theater, and painting.

Being born from the private initiative that emerged from civil society, LICEU CONSERVATORY IS PUBLIC SERVICE.

excelencia

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

EXCELLENCE

Giving the best opportunities to talent

excelencia-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

EXCELLENCE

Giving the best opportunities to talent

exelencia-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

EXCELLENCE

Giving the best opportunities to talent

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS EXCELLENCE

Even if the Liceu Conservatory is an educational community, spreading from the initiation of the youngest to the high specialization of the Degree and Master’s studies, the search for quality in an equal opportunity frame defines its artistic objectives. The prominent level of its teaching staff and facilities connects with the wide range of master classes given by international teachers. Many first-class musicians have taught at the Liceu Conservatory, and many of the great music figures of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as today, are among its graduates.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS EXCELLENCE, a combined sum of great individual efforts giving the best to aim for the maximum musical quality in diverse styles and specialties, either interpretative, educational, or creative. The pedagogical project of the Liceu Conservatory includes the constant search for the most interesting and suitable teachers to train students. Moreover, it ensures that the teachers are active musicians with a solid career and a great artistic and teaching experience. The Center is constantly looking to invite today’s greatest musicians to give master classes. This way, the students get to know them firsthand, thanks to the Liceu Jazz and Liceu Chamber Masterclasses & Concerts Series.

The aim for excellence implies to create real equal opportunity to help the big talents to go for the best in the music world. This requires that students can have an ideal environment for study and practice, with perfectly equipped study rooms and high-quality instruments. In addition to areas and auditoriums where students can acquire, during their studies, a real and wide experience of performing music. It can be live performances, in small and large formations, whether at the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium, or at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Auditori of Barcelona, the Palau de la Música Catalana or the Teatrino in the Rambles, at the historic headquarters of the Conservatory. The large number of agreements signed with external entities multiply the possibilities for students to perform in scenarios as diverse as the Parliament of Catalonia or Barcelona City Council. In addition, in the Picasso Museum, the Sala Parés, Barcelona Obertura, the Arrels Foundation, the Milano Jazz Club, the Andorra Lírica Association, the Ateneu Barcelonès or the Francesc Valls Choir, in civic centers or in street performances, among many other places.

Many young musicians who have recently emerged from the Center of Higher Education are already making a solid and promising career. They also have a secure place in the today’s music scene and in the immediate future: Sara Blanch, Serena Saenz, Airam Hernández, Maria Canyigueral, María José Rielo, Albert Coronado, Alba Llorach, Jorge Nava, Marta Torres, Ilya Maximov, Misaki Pascual, Darya Piltiay, Cristina Segura, Anna Tobella, Laura Vila, Magalí Sare, Sergio Pamies, Ali Jorge Arango, Edwin Guevara, Martín Leiton, among many others.

During the 19th century, the International Exhibitions of Vienna (1873), Barcelona (1888) and Antwerp (1894) recognized and awarded the high quality of the Institution’s teaching. As the Board was informed on that occasion, “The Antwerp International Exposition recognizes the merit and perfection of our teachings, and the Jury has awarded our Conservatory a Gold Medal. This earned honor is bearing fruit, as the Music Department has received communications requesting news about our organization and instructions for establishing new Music Schools in several countries.“

Created as a center for high-quality music education, the Liceu Conservatory has developed an inestimable task training many of the best musicians in the country. Among the names of his professors, we can find renowned figures such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Pau Casals, Higini Anglès, Joan Lamote de Grignon, Jaume Pahissa or Joaquín Zamacois, among many others. And to name just a few of its most illustrious students, we can recall the names of Francesc Viñas, Montserrat Caballé, Victòria dels Àngels, Frank Marshall, Joan Albert Amargós, Lluis Claret, Lleonard Balada or Joan Guinjoan.

All these efforts, searching for quality, and the constant requirement to give the best education, always, and now more than ever, in the complex and fascinating globalized panorama of the 21st century music, mean that LICEU CONSERVATORY IS EXCELLENCE.

transversalitat

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

TRANSVERSALITY

All the voices of Music

transversalitat-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

TRANSVERSALITY

All the voices of Music

transversalitat-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

TRANSVERSALITY

All the voices of Music

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS TRANSVERSALITY

At the beginning, classical music and lyrical singing were an essential trait of the Liceu Conservatory identity, but the Center has always shown an open attitude towards all musical manifestations. The Liceu Conservatory has been one of the pioneers in offering lessons in other types of music, such as flamenco or jazz and modern music, which coexist naturally with classical music in the Center’s educational and artistic activities.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS TRANSVERSALITY, thanks to a broad and restless vision, constantly looking for to integrate diverse types of music in music education. In some cases, they were unfairly removed from academia, and they all have in common the quality and ability to communicate artistic emotion to an audience.

Since its beginning, the Institution has included in its educational program not only singing and theater, but also subjects for all orchestral instruments, piano, and guitar. Nowadays, the music played at the Liceu Conservatory Foundation’s Centers has an expansive range of styles and orientations, including symphonic music and opera, but also swing, Latin jazz and funk, among many other languages. Next to the creation of several orchestral and chamber ensembles, the great ensembles of Jazz and Modern Music gather under the direction of great experts with extraordinary experience: The Liceu Big Band, the Liceu Gran Ensemble, the Liceu BLAM Collective and the Liceu Jazz Group. They include large groups such as the guitar orchestra, the symphony band or the ensemble of contemporary and avant-garde music Liceu XXI (especially dedicated to perform the works by the Arrangement students of the Center).

It is good to recall that, until the last quarter of the twentieth century, usual curricula in conservatories and music schools still excluded music from the Western classical tradition. The Liceu Conservatory was an advanced Center in its time with such innovative initiatives at the time as the incorporation of the main instruments of the Catalan orchestra (1990), and the creation of the Flamenco Guitar Workshop (1991) and the Modern Music and Jazz Workshop (1993). The studies of Flamenco and Jazz, and Modern Music, which began back then, were the basis for the later incorporation of these musical fields into formal education as soon as the legislation allowed it.

The prosperous international relations of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation have also brought to the Center the music from China, Japan, and Korea, as well as from many countries in the Latin American community. Due to its open criteria to many and varied forms of expression that enrich the musical world of our era, LICEU CONSERVATORY IS TRANSVERSALITY.

BRESSOL

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

THE CRADLE

Making music education grow

BRESSOL-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

THE CRADLE

Making music education grow

bressol-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

THE CRADLE

Making music education grow

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS THE CRADLE

The Liceu Conservatory was the first Center of its kind in Catalonia, and it has been and continues to be a reference. Tens of thousands of musicians have studied or have been examined at the Conservatory. Moreover, there are many Conservatories and Schools that have their origin in the Liceu Network of Affiliated Schools. The Theatre Institute of Barcelona also emerged from the stage training given at the Center. In addition to several music specialties not included in the academic world, such as Musicology, Flamenco, Jazz and Modern Music or Catalan Orchestra Instruments, thanks to the initiative of the Liceu Conservatory.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS THE CRADLE of music education in Catalonia. Since its creation, a reference Center for quality music education was established for the first time. It carried out this function almost exclusively until 1886 with the inauguration of the Local School of Music of Barcelona. Its first director was Josep Rodoreda, teacher at the Liceu Conservatory.

In 1892, due to the growing number of people studying music outside Barcelona and asking to get their studies validated, the Center established free education. This way, many young musicians from all over Catalonia had to adapt their learning to the quality requirements of the Liceu Conservatory, a prestigious entity that had to endorse and give official validity to their studies.

The Liceu Conservatory, always attentive to the European reference centers, was a pioneer, offering Musicology studies for the first time in Spain in 1928, under the direction of Father Higini Anglés. He was a former student of the Liceu Conservatory and an extraordinary musicologist. It was also at the Liceu Conservatory where Joaquín Zamacois established a course in Musical Forms for the first time in the country.

Nevertheless, this vocation to create new teachings by the Liceu Conservatory is not limited to music: in 1913, the Center –together with the Provincial Council of Barcelona– established the Catalan School of Dramatic Art, under the direction of the great playwright Adrià Gual, teacher at the Liceu Conservatory. This was the origin of the current Theatre Institute of Barcelona.

In 1932, the Liceu Conservatory creates its first branches, and introduces the “Bases by which the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona will authorize established Music Conservatories and Schools, or next to be established in important towns and villages in Catalonia, to be called Affiliated of the Liceu Conservatory of Barcelona”. These Liceu branches included the centers of the provincial capitals of Tarragona, Lleida, Girona, as well as schools in cities with a long musical tradition, such as Sabadell, Olot, Badalona and Reus, among others. The affiliated schools of the Liceu Conservatory were therefore the origin of many local institutions that have become Conservatories of significant importance, currently offering professional music education to hundreds of young talents. Nowadays, thanks to the Network of Affiliated Schools, 38 schools teach the Curriculum of the Liceu Conservatory with 8,741 students following any of the programs.

In 1944, by the Decree of January 26, it was created the Conservatory of Music and Declamation of Barcelona. It was founded “to teach Music, by the Municipal School of Music and the Liceu Conservatory, and to teach Declamation and Dance, by the Theater Institute of the Excellency Provincial Council of Barcelona.”

In 1966, with Decree 2618/1966, on General Regulations of Music Conservatories, a new curriculum came into force (popularly known as the “66 Program”), according to which the Liceu Conservatory began teaching elementary, professional, and higher Bachelor’s Degrees.

In 1983, the Department of Education of the Government of Catalonia, with Decree 307/1983, splits the Barcelona Superior Conservatory. Thus, the Municipal Conservatory and the Liceu Conservatory became independent Centers of Higher Education for all purposes.

Thanks to the initiative of the Conservatory, the Ministry of Education recognizes, in 1989, the teaching of the main instruments of the Catalan orchestra –the tenor, the tible (Catalan shawm) and the flageolet, and tambourine– as official studies in all its Bachelor’s degrees. The Order of 19 September 1990 of the Government of Catalonia established the Liceu Conservatory as the only Center authorized to teach these courses.

In 1991, the Liceu Conservatory created its own curriculum for the specialty of Flamenco Guitar and, in 1993, it incorporates the Modern Music and Jazz Workshop (the Aula) into its centers. It was the first school that, since 1978, had started teaching this kind of music in Spain.

The Liceu Conservatory has always been active in the creation and renewal of curricula, so they always respond to the needs of social and music reality of the moment. The Center played a decisive role in the design of the current Degree in Music studies, originated from the Bologna Process. The 2010-2011 academic year witnessed the start of the first course of Higher Studies in Music within the framework of the European Higher Education Area.

Especially now, on the 90th anniversary of the creation of the affiliated schools network, it must be remembered that, regarding music education in Catalonia, LICEU CONSERVATORY IS THE CRADLE.

internacional

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INTERNATIONALIZATION

From Barcelona to the whole world

internacional-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INTERNATIONALIZATION

From Barcelona to the whole world

internacional-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INTERNATIONALIZATION

From Barcelona to the whole world

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INTERNATIONALIZATION

Today, the music scene is an issue beyond borders. A globalized world and modern technologies demand the Liceu Conservatory to give to its activities an essential international dimension. Yet, in the middle of the 19th century, the Institution showed its willingness to have distinguished teachers from abroad and the desire to share its projects with the whole world. Nowadays, the visits of renowned international names are usual in the Center. In addition, several signed agreements within the framework of the Erasmus program or self-initiatives with large international Institutions –with special attention to the Ibero-American community– allow the students to learn how music works in other countries during their studies.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INTERNATIONALIZATION, and during the last twenty years, the modernization of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation has had as one of its priorities the international dimension of its studies. Accordingly, the Center’s international foreign projects have established collaboration agreements with several universities and other Institutions in Europe, Latin America, the United States and Asia.

The Liceu Conservatory currently has 266 International Agreements, and thanks to them, it has mobility activities for students and teachers, as well as the organization of academic activities in the music field. In addition to the deals signed under the Erasmus program, the Center has agreements with Educational Institutions and Centers in Asia (Japan, China, South Korea), Australia and, most especially, Latin America. There have been established closed relations with many conservatories, universities, and cultural organizations in several countries (Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Brazil). Through them, it has been possible to develop projects that spread the name of the Conservatory and Barcelona to many places.

In the United States, the Liceu Conservatory’s Modern and Jazz Workshop was a founding member of the Berklee International Network (BIN). The International Schools Network of Berklee College of Music in Boston is considered one of the most important in the world. Moreover, the Center collaborates with the University of North Texas, which has resulted in frequent exchanges of visiting students and teachers.

In Europe, in addition to the activity within the Erasmus program, the Liceu Conservatory is a member of the European Association of Conservatories (AEC), actively collaborating with this organization. Representatives of the Center participated in the AEC working group studying the impact of the Bologna process on Higher Music Education in Europe.

Thus, since its creation, and thanks to the presence of many professors of the highest international reputation (such as Pau Casals, Engelbert Humperdinck or Higini Anglès, among many others), the Liceu Conservatory has shown a clear and continued international vocation. It has also been in contact with the main trends in European and world music, being a pole of attraction for students, teachers, and musicians in general from around the world, who have seen the Center as a reference.

Due to the richness of the Liceu Conservatory’s relations with music education centers and artistic Institutions of the world’s highest level, and due to its global look at Music, LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INTERNATIONALIZATION.

filantropia

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PHILANTHROPY

Giving to make grow what you love

filantropia-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PHILANTHROPY

Giving to make grow what you love

filantropia-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

PHILANTHROPY

Giving to make grow what you love

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS PHILANTHROPY

From its origins, the project of the Liceu Conservatory features the generosity of the civil society who wanted to contribute selflessly to give Barcelona a great center for music education. The philanthropic tradition of the Conservatory manifests itself in the cases of Francesc Viñas or Montserrat Caballé, legendary figures who needed patronage to study. It is also seen in the ambitious Scholarship programs enjoyed by the young musicians currently studying at the Center.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS PHILANTHROPY, a way of understanding that access to education and artistic enjoyment must also be everyone’s responsibility. The Liceu Conservatory Scholarship Fund, thanks to the generosity of the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation, the La Caixa Foundation, the Damm Foundation, the Carolina Foundation, the Abertis Foundation, Yamaha, the Society of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Pedro i Pons University Foundation, and the Liceu Conservatory Foundation itself, have allowed 159 students from the Higher and Professional Centers and the Music Primary program to enjoy scholarships. In addition, the Scholarship Fund contribution makes possible to subsidize partially the studies of 100% of the Higher Education students.

It is also noteworthy the social inclusion program applied thanks to the agreement with the Parish Schools of the Archdiocese of Barcelona Foundation and the Ferrer-Salat Music Foundation. It allows 539 students to enjoy the Elementary Musical program in Schools located in areas at risk of social exclusion.

The creation of the Liceo Filarmónico-Dramático de Montesión in 1837 is a significant milestone in the drive and commitment of the Catalan civil society to education and culture. At a time when many European cities were creating large state-funded conservatories, a group of people with cultural and social concerns in Barcelona privately conducted a project, demanding everywhere the support from public funds.

The first regulation of the entity considers it a society of friends gathered to contribute “with its intelligence or wealth” to the development of dramatic and musical art with the aim of creating “academies of declamation and singing,” unconcerned about any kind of material return. In 1838, the Liceo Filarmónico-Dramático obtained the transfer of the Montsió Convent lands to develop the classes, which had to be public and free, showing the social commitment of the Institution from its origins. This obligation was maintained after exchanging the first site for the Trinitarians Convent located at the Rambles, where the new building of the Conservatory and the Teatre del Liceu were built in 1847.

In 1885, the local administration granted the Liceu Conservatory a subsidy representing approximately 10% of the entity’s budget. Despite this, the Center was, for the first time, forced to ask for the payment of a tuition fee of 3 pesetas per student and subject to its funding. However, it was a significantly lower amount compared to the ones paid at the Conservatory of Madrid and other European centers of state ownership. The Institution continued to offer scholarships and a 10% of free tuition, including the one given to the Singing student and later lyric legend, Francesc Viñas. The Liceu Conservatory’s tradition of patronage has other particularly notable cases, such as Montserrat Caballé, but it represents a common thread throughout the history and present of the Institution.

All these initiatives place the patronage at the service of music education. They are at the heart of the origin and growth of the Liceu Conservatory Liceu, testifying that LICEU CONSERVATORY IS PHILANTHROPY.

iniciativa-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INITIATIVE

Always serving the city and the country

iniciativa

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INITIATIVE

Always serving the city and the country

INICIATIVA-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

INITIATIVE

Always serving the city and the country

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INITIATIVE

The Liceu Conservatory is responsible for constructing of the Rambles building to house the classes and a Theater to finance them. In addition, before creating the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Institution had created the defunct Theatre of Montsió. The interest to create new spaces for music and teaching extends to the present day. Thus, the Center enjoys the excellent facilities of Nou de la Rambla street, with an auditorium considered one of the best of its kind in the city.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INITIATIVE, a quality proved by the birth of the Institution. The enthusiastic people who put their efforts at the service of Culture did not wait for the official authorities to take an interest in Music. Throughout its history, the Liceu Conservatory Foundation has been expanding its facilities and resources to live up to its commitment to society and music education.

The current headquarters of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, and the Center of Higher Education, is located close to the historic headquarters, in Nou de la Rambla street, in the heart of Barcelona, between the Rambles and Paral·lel avenue. Opened in 2009, the magnificent building was designed and conceived considering the needs of spaces and environmental and acoustic requirements to develop professional music education in the most effective and rich way.

The facilities have an area of 10,000 m2 spread over 8 floors. The 5 upper floors are dedicated to Higher and Master’s music education. There are 90 classrooms for study, all of which are perfectly soundproofed and acoustically adapted to each specialty and instrument.

The new Liceu Conservatory Auditorium, with a capacity for 400 people, is optimally prepared for chamber, symphonic and jazz concerts, and modern music, as well as for theatrical and operatic performances. Its acoustics has been unanimously praised, and it makes this hall one of the best of its kind in the city of Barcelona.

The Liceu Conservatory has made a significant contribution to shaping the cultural landscape of Barcelona, creating spaces in crucial moments to practice music that have been and are an essential part of Catalonia’s cultural facilities. The initial facilities of the Institution in the grounds of the old Convent of Montsió not only included the classrooms, but also the Theater of Montsió, with capacity for 600 people. There, between 1837 and 1845, students from the Center performed several operas by Bellini, Rossini, or Donizetti.

The Royal Order of April 2, 1844, granted the Liceu Conservatory the exchange of the Convent of Montsió for the Trinitarians old Convent located on the Rambles of Barcelona, “while the objectives of public utility that in the primitive concession to the referred Liceu endure”. That is, while continuing to offer free public education. The construction of the new building had to accomplish “all the convenient works so that in that place there are not only the classrooms and all the premises of the establishment, but also a theater.” The Gran Teatre del Liceu was inaugurated on April 4, 1847, with the performance, among other plays, of Il Regio Imene. It is a cantata written specifically for the occasion by the Director of the Liceu Conservatory, Mariano Obiols, who was also the first Musical Director of the Theater.

As the member Joaquín de Gispert, in charge of the construction of the new building, stated in a memorandum: “Therefore, it will be up to me to understand that the objectives proposed by this company have been fulfilled. On one hand, the old shares have been extinguished, i.e., the debt of the Liceu. On the other hand, it will have a place for classes and areas and the music teachers will be paid for by the working company. And, on the other hand, there will be an annual rent for the other classes and services. Finally, the property of the Theater belongs to the Liceu, so it will get a name that will not easily disappear.”

From 1854, the Conservatory and the Theater began to operate separately. That year, the Owners’ Society was born, overseeing the management of the Theater. The Liceu Society kept on managing the classes, and the Shareholders’ Society undertook the collaboration in their maintenance with a contribution of “150,000 pesetas in gold and silver coins.”

At the beginning of the 21st century, radical changes in educational legislation, and the new and urgent demands for quality music education of today raised the need to build new facilities suitable for the new challenges.

In a historical moment like this, in which it is more necessary than ever to be highly active answering the society demands of Music, LICEU CONSERVATORY IS INITIATIVE.

cultura

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

CULTURE

A unique way to create and spread culture

cultura-tablet

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

CULTURE

A unique way to create and spread culture

cultura-mobil

LICEU CONSERVATORY is

CULTURE

A unique way to create and spread culture

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS CULTURE

The Liceu Conservatory not only dedicates its efforts to teaching and training great musicians, but also always wants to contribute to the country’s cultural life. Thus, it is constantly seeking opportunities for students to perform and share their art with the audience, gaining professional experience. The spaces created by the Liceu Conservatory throughout its history are an essential part of Barcelona’s music scene.

LICEU CONSERVATORY IS CULTURE, as evidenced by the several agreements that the Center has signed with cultural and musical entities. This way, students can perform in front of diverse audiences, thus having the option to live with authenticity the Culture of their time. In the last year, the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium offered a total of 126 concerts and masterclasses in the several Series organized by the Institution. These include the Young Liceu Concert Series, where the stars are several groups and artistic productions of the Center’s students. In addition, special mention should be made to the 156 graduation concerts scheduled last season.

The Liceu Stages Pro program: From classrooms to stages. Together with the productions of the Auditorium of the Liceu Conservatory, it allows making visible the academic and artistic activity of the Center. Over the last year, 448 students have taken part in more than 176 events and concerts in 53 diverse cultural areas.

All the same, the Liceu Family Concert Series, or Evenings at the Teatrino (at the historic headquarters of the Conservatory on the Rambles in Barcelona) has allowed to organize almost a hundred concerts by students and teachers from the Professional Center and the Music Schools.

An essential goal of this activity is to make students aware of the implications of their artistic activity, acquiring the values and abilities to create spaces of social transformation with their music. The different concerts performed by our students at events of the Arrels or Nexe Foundations, or the actions aimed at making visible and supporting the role of Women in Music, contribute to achieving this aim.

Among these spaces stands out the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium. It is one of the best halls of its kind in Barcelona, and there, you cannot only listen to the music by the students of the Center, but also, it is the venue for several festivals and cultural events. In addition to the Center’s Concert Series –gathered into Liceu Jazz, Liceu Chamber, Young Liceu or Family Liceu– the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium regularly hosts concerts by the Barcelona Jazz Festival and other external promoters. Congresses, lectures, movies, and even Japanese Noh Theater have been performed there.

When the Conservatory was created, the entity took the name of Liceu, a generic name that refers to education, and today many other entities share it. Surely, at that time, it was impossible to predict the relevance that the brand has achieved in these 185 years of history. Today, Liceu is a well-known brand, thanks to the Conservatory as well as the Theater that bear this name.

The origins of the Liceo Filarmónico-Dramático are linked to the conviction that in the music field, academic centers, and theaters and auditoriums, are a fundamental part of the development of a society. Therefore, the opportunities for the students to participate in musical productions in front of the audience were always pursued.

When, 10 years after the creation of the Liceu, the need for new facilities aroused, it immediately came to mind conducting “all the convenient works so that in that place there are not only the classrooms and all the premises of the establishment, but also a theater”. The new Teatre del Liceu was to be used to finance teaching, but also to launch the talent of students. The Institution never understood music education as an end; its result had to be directly connected to the cultural environment.

This became clear in 1873 when the Vienna World’s Fair awarded the Institution with the Gold Medal bearing the motto “Culture and Education”. Although the activity that defines the Conservatory is education, it does not make sense if it does not focus on the reality of the cultural world in which the careers of future Music professionals will develop.

This need for the students of the Liceu Conservatory to finish their studies with an extensive professional experience was also decisive in the design of the new building on Nou de la Rambla street. These new facilities have five concert halls for students’ performances as soloists and in ensembles of very different formats; ranging from jazz ensembles to operatic performances.

The Liceu Conservatory always wants to be part of its natural space –the city and the country’s Culture– offering its students and graduates’ music, as well as its spaces, to contribute actively to the cultural enrichment of its environment. Therefore, it is safe to say that LICEU CONSERVATORY IS CULTURE.

final

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