Geneva University of Music

Geneva Haute école de musique (University of Music)
	Haute école de musique de Genève
Type	Public Foundation
Established	1835 as Conservatoire de musique de Genève
Affiliation	University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO)
Director	M. Philippe Dinkel
Students	+650
Location	Geneva, Switzerland
Website	http://www.hemge.ch

Short description: Music institution in Geneva, Switzerland

The Geneva Haute école de musique (French: Haute école de musique de Genève HEM) is a higher music education institution in Geneva, Switzerland .

Status

The HEM is a public institution founded in 2009, but the school has its origin back to 1835. It is affiliated to the Music & Performing Arts Faculty of the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale, HES-SO).
Its Bachelor and Master courses are fully recognized by the Switzerland authorities. They are compatible with the European educative space, and well recognized abroad.
The mission of the HEM includes education at the Bachelor and Master level, artistic research, lifelong learning for professional musicians, and artistic productions.
The HEM extends its activities to a branch in Neuchâtel.

Since 2022 Beatrice Zawodnik is the Director of the institution.^[1]

History

The HEM stems from the Geneva Music Conservatory (French: Conservatoire de Musique de Genève) founded 1835 by François Bartholoni (1796-1881).
The Music & Movement Department stems from the Institute founded in 1915 by the musician and educator Emile Jaques-Dalcroze.
The Conservatoire de musique de Genève was one of the first founded in Europe. Many great artists taught there, such as

Franz Liszt
Ernest Bloch
Ernest Ansermet
Dinu Lipatti
Nikita Magaloff
Marcel Moyse
Joseph Szigeti
José Vianna da Motta

The HEM is situated in a building in Place Neuve erected in 1855 by the Parisian architect Jean-Baptiste Lesueur.
Inside the Conservatory was founded in 1939 the Geneva International Music Competition Concours international d'exécution musicale de Genève.
The Early Music Department of the HEM stems from the Centre the musique ancienne, founded 1975 by the Conservatoire populaire de musique de Genève.
The HEM was affiliated as a Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2002.

Departments

The HEM covers all musical styles, from the Middle-Age to the Contemporary Music.
It hosts six Departments, covering all musical professions.

Keyboard Department
Orchestra Department
Vocal Department
Early Music Department
Music and Movement Department
Composition & Theory Department

La HEM maintains a symphonic orchestra, several chamber orchestras, a baroque orchestra, a choir, a chamber choir, a contemporary ensemble.
It offers annually more than 500 performances : concerts, solo or ensemble recitals.

Courses

The courses are articulated in two cycles : a three years Bachelor of Arts followed by a two years Master of Arts.
Numerous Majors and Minors are available inside the six courses :

BA in Music
BA in Music & Movement.
MA in Music Pedagogy.
MA in Music Performance.
MA in specialized Music Performance
MA in Music Composition & Theory
MA in Ethnomusicology (in partnership with the University of Geneva and the University of Neuchâtel)

Partners

The HEM is well connected to the Universities and artistic production environment in Geneva. Its collaborates closely with following partners :

University of Geneva (exchange of teaching with the Musicology department, BA in Music & Musicology, MA in Ethnomusicology, Social and Cultural services.
University of Neuchâtel (MA in Ethnomusicology)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Orchestre de chambre de Genève
Ensemble de musique contemporaine Contrechamps (orchestra internships).
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Geneva International Music Competition
Kunitachi College of Music

The HEM est an active member of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires et Musikhochschulen and maintains close cooperation with numerous Institutions in Switzerland and abroad.
The school is member of the Erasmus exchange program, and collaborates with sister institutions around the world, namely in United States , Canada , Venezuela, Brasil, India and China .

References

↑ "Béatrice Zawodnik | HEM" (in en). https://www.hesge.ch/hem/en/annuaire/beatrice-zawodnik.

Bochet, Henri : Le Conservatoire de musique de Genève: son histoire de 1835 à 1935. Genève, [s.n.], 1935.
Jeandin, Richard : Le Conservatoire de musique de Genève : 1935-1960. Genève, [s.n.], [s.d.].
Jeandin, Richard Anthelme : Le Conservatoire de musique de Genève : 1960-1985. Genève, Conservatoire de musique, 1985.
Campos, Rémy : Instituer la musique : les premières années du Conservatoire de Musique de Genève : (1835-1859). Genève : Éd. Université-Conservatoire de musique, 2003.