Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp

The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp is a music and drama college in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded in 1898 as the Royal Flemish Conservatoire by Peter Benoit, and was the first Dutch-language institute for art education in Belgium. For more than a hundred years, musicians, singers, composers, conductors and teachers - have been trained there. In 1993 the option Jazz and Popular Music was added to the classical courses.

The new legislation on university colleges in Flanders in 1995 led to a merger under the wings of the newly formed Antwerp University College (Hogeschool Antwerpen) with the drama program of the previous autonomous Studio Herman Teirlinck and the dance program of the Higher Institute for Dance Education. In 2008 the university college assumed the name Artesis and in 2013 - after a merger with the Plantijn University College of Antwerp - it took the name AP University College.

The Royal Conservatoire has a music program (bachelor and master in classical music and jazz), a drama program (bachelor and master), a dance program (bachelor) and a teachers program. Courses are organized in line with the provisions of the decree of 13 July 1994 on the universities and colleges of higher education in the Flemish Community. Many laureates of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp have made an important contribution to music both in Flanders and internationally. The teaching staff includes many world famous artists and educators (20% international staff and student population). Currently the Antwerp Conservatory is the only Conservatory in Belgium and the Netherlands with a permanent and complete symphony orchestra.

The Antwerp Conservatory offers opportunities for extensive artistic cross-pollination, as courses in the three performing arts, are all grouped on the International Arts Campus deSingel. This partnership ensures an exchange of talent, art and knowledge that supports and fosters a strong international profile.

In 1843 the Antwerp voice teachers Cornelius Schermers (1799-1870) and Frans Willem Aerts (1804-1864), composer and kapellmeister of the Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady Jozef Bessems (1809-1892) and flute player J. Van den Bogaert (1802-1851) worked out a plan to set up a music school in Antwerp. They received the approval of the city council and on 15 March 1844 the Ecole spéciale de musique de la Ville d'Anvers was founded. Its classrooms were located in the center of Antwerp in a public property in the Kaasstraat near the Suikerrui. In 1859 they had to expand and they found additional classrooms in the Blindestraat. Until then, the music school was a private initiative, albeit with subsidies from the city. In 1859 the city took over the administration and the school was promoted to Municipal Music School of Antwerp or in French: Ecole de Musique d'Anvers.

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