Sweelinck Conservatorium

The Conservatorium van Amsterdam is a Dutch academy of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is the largest music academy in the Netherlands, offering programs in classical music, jazz, pop, early music, music education, and opera.

The oldest predecessor of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam was founded in 1884 as the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, four years before the completion of the Concertgebouw. In 1920 a competing music academy was established in Amsterdam by a society called 'Muzieklyceum'. The Bachzaal, used by the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, was completed in 1931.

In 1976, the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium, Conservatory of the Muzieklyceum Society, and the Haarlems Muzieklyceum merged to form the Sweelinck Conservatorium. This "new" academy of music moved to the former savings bank building in the Van Baerlestraat in 1985. In 1994 the Sweelinck Conservatorium merged with Hilversums Conservatorium to form the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. From 1998 its training programmes took place in their facilities in Van Baerlestraat and the Nieuwe Vaart. In 2008 the school moved to Oosterdokseiland.

Since April 21, 2008, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam has its home in a new building at the Oosterdokseiland, near Amsterdam Central Station. The new building is centrally located in a cultural area, including the 'Muziekgebouw' with three concert halls for classical music and jazz, and the public library. Other faculties of the Amsterdam University of the Arts (Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Dutch) are within walking distance.

This new complex is designed and equipped to current standards. Students can organize solo or ensemble concerts, create interesting projects with other music students or students from other art disciplines. They also make their own posters and flyers, sell tickets, or record their concerts in one of the concert halls and broadcast them on the internet radio at the CvA website.

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