The Center’s teaching task must have a direct connection with the artistic activity through which, during their studies, the students get the practice of performing live the result of their work in similar conditions to the professional practice.
With this idea, the elective credits mainly focused on extending the training outside the classrooms –and based on performing, teaching, and creative activities– allow the students to gain experience. They also help the young musicians, once they have finished their studies, to be perfectly ready to join the work life and its demands. This way, the students have at their disposition several resources to be able to carry out during their studies, such as professional practice activities that will give them the experience to develop their future career.
This significance of the artistic practice in the studies gets articulated through several actions:
- The completion of the Bachelor of Music is obtained with a full Graduation Concert as a soloist (or the premiere of a large-scale work in the Composition option), in one of the exceptional areas of our Auditorium. This challenge, together with the Final Essay, shows the importance of the concert practice to pass the degree.
- The students actively participate in the artistic program of the Center through the orchestras and instrumental ensembles from the Liceu Conservatory. They gather in several programs of intense work lead by prestigious conductors. This way, next to the students’ contributions at the concerts of the Liceu Cambra and Liceu Jazz concert cycles, they take on the leading role in the Liceu Jove concert cycle, through the Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra, the Classical Orchestra, the Symphonic Band, the Liceu XXI ensemble or the Liceu Big Band. As well as small ensembles such as the Cello Octet, the Chamber Choir, the Guitar Ensemble, the Percussion Ensemble and several smaller groups, such as the Brass Quintet, the Flute Ensemble or the Saxophone Quartet.
These ensembles perform in real stages and similar conditions than the professional ones provided by the halls of the Liceu Conservatory Auditorium. Renowned as one of the best halls in Barcelona and praised by its exceptional acoustics, the Auditorium allows performing not only chamber concerts but also large-scale operas and symphonic productions.
The students who major in Pedagogy will take the elective credits preferably in activities of educational practice. For these practices, we count on the Linked Schools network. The Center has also established agreements with several orchestras and professional choirs, and several organizations. In addition, it has a Promotion Department that manages different music performances in auditoriums and cultural centers.
- The students of the Liceu Conservatory may benefit from more than 50 agreements of educational collaboration established between the Liceu Conservatory Foundation and other organizations and institutions of our country. These agreements allow them to develop professional practices through their performances in cultural events and programs of famous concert cycles, as well as professional orchestras.
These agreements give visibility to the students through activities promoted by institutions and public entities so prestigious as the Parliament of Catalonia, the ICUB, Barcelona’s Diputació, the ESCAC, the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the Consorci de l’Auditori i l’Orquestra – Museu de la Música (Auditorium and Orchestra Consortium – Museum of Music), the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (the Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual media) or the MNAC. As well as several City/Town Halls of the national territory.
Equally, many organizations, foundations, and associations ask for music performances by our students. They want to offer concerts during their activities; among them, the Fundació Obra Social ”la Caixa” (“la Caixa” Foundation), the Granollers Chamber Orchestra, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation, the Cercle del Liceu, the Maria Canals International Music Competition, Música en Vena, the Vallès Symphonic Orchestra, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation, the Young Musicians of Torroella de Montgrí, Barcelona Global, the Progress and Direction Association – APD, the Jeunesses Musicales de Méditerranée Cultural Association, the Arrels Foundation, the Rosa Sensat Teachers Association or the Franz Schubert Association. Also, businesses such as El Corte Inglés or The Project, the promoter of the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival.
In addition, it is an opportunity for the students to be able to perform as soloists in chamber and orchestral groups in front of a different public from their educational activities. This professional practice helps them to get familiar with the professional world and promotes the Center beyond its educational function, placing it as an agent of cultural promotion.