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About Us

The Como Conservatory of Music

The Conservatorio di musica "Giuseppe Verdi" of Como is located in Via Cadorna, in the central area of the town, inside a prestigious building of the 15th Century that received further enlargement in the 16th and the 17th Centuries. Between 1971 and 1973 the city of Como had moved forward an operation of recovery of the building, which had been subjected to a long period of degradation where part of the structure collapsed.

In Spring of 2010, after the complete renovation of the new organ hall, it was installed the great three-keyboard organ built by the famous Italian organ builder Gustavo Zanin, Codroipo (Udine).

Nowadays, the Conservatory is a well-established institution of the town and the province, it has close relationships with universities and artistic institutions of the territories nearby and its students come not only from other Italian cities but from foreign countries too, such as Switzerland, Germany, Slovak Republic, Albany, Bulgaria, Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Spain, South Korea, China, Mexico, Colombia, Salvador, Jordan, Iran. The Conservatory of Como belongs to the European Association of the Conservatory of Music since 2009.

Academics

The activity of the Conservatory aims to three fundamental dimensions of the musical education: didactics, production and research.

Besides the traditional courses of the old system (which will remain in force until all the AFAM institutions will be recognized as superior institutions), there are different proposals that the Conservatory may offer through a high qualified and well-renowned-internationally teaching staff:

• three-year academic courses of first level. The main purpose is preparing students for a professional career, also in a experimental sphere with up-to-date teaching methodologies that ensure a clear awareness of the diffusion and the production of music;
  
  
• two-year academic courses of second level. The students will develop high professional skills in both execution and interpretation of the instrumental and vocal repertoire and musicological and philological research;
  
  
• collaboration and exchange with important Italian and foreign Conservatories and institutions, even with the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus);
  
  
• implementation of training nets between the institutions of the entire Insubria area for qualifications and updates of both instrumental and basic musical education teachers;
  
  
• workshops for consolidation and advanced research in various disciplines such as jazz, electronic music, sound engineering, and for moulding new musical professions.

The Conservatory of Como takes part constantly, and often successfully, to the Premio Nazionale delle Arti (AFAM prize) under the auspices of the Ministry of Education; periodically, students from the Conservatory have been chosen to form the Orchestra Nazionale dei Conservatori (Italian Conservatory National Orchestra). Instrumental and vocal ensembles of the Conservatory have been called to participate to the radiophonic program Conservatori in Concerto, which is produced and broadcasted by Radio Vaticana.

Ensemble

Productions and exhibitions

The Conservatory of Como promotes several musical events on the territory, the main ones are:

• «Sabato in musica», concert exhibitions on Saturday;
  
  
• «Momenti musicali», End of the Year student's performances;
  
  
• «Cori in concerto» and «Polyphoniae», festivals to promote the development of choral music;
  
  
• «Jazz», The Department organizes masterclasses, workshops, open rehearsals and concerts, inviting world-renowned musicians;
  
  
• «Quadrivium», lectures given by international experts in Music Theory;
  
  
• «Elettrosensi», concerts and masterclass organized by the courses of Electronic Music;
  
  
• «Note d'autunno», Conservatory students perform in Autumn Concerts;
  
  
• «Bazar della Musica», Summer solstice concerts;
  
  
• «Festival Bach - 1, 2 & 3», a Bach's complete organ works in 2012-2014;
  
  
• «Il pianoforte di Vienna», special concerts in Spring 2013 dedicated to new Bösendorfer 225 grand piano;
  
  
• «Prove aperte» (Open rehearsals to audience), during the rehearsals of the Symphonic Orchestra or the Chamber Choir;
  
  
• «Festival Chopin 2010», to celebrate the bicentenary of Chopin's birth;
  
  
• «Festival Schumann 2010», to celebrate the bicentenary of Schumann's birth;
  
  
• «Festival Liszt 2010», to celebrate the bicentenary of Franz Liszt's birth and in honor to his presence in Como between the 1837-38;
  
  
• «Rassegna organistica», concerts in Spring 2011 dedicated to new organ "Zanin";
  
  
• «Festival Debussy 2012», to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Debussy's birth;
  
  
• «Festival En blanc et noir», Festival «Black and White»