A public music and performing arts conservatoire in Québec City offering training from primary school to the second university cycle.
The Conservatoire de musique de Québec is part of the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec, a state corporation subsidized by the Government of Quebec and reporting to the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications. Its stated mission is to train the elite of tomorrow. The institution is located at 270, rue Jacques-Parizeau in Québec City, G1R 5G1.
The Conservatoire was founded in 1942 by orchestra conductor Wilfrid Pelletier. The Fondation du Conservatoire has provided financial support to students who study music and drama since 1983.
The Conservatoire offers a continuum of musical training running from elementary school to the second university cycle. It is described as the only state institution in North America that lets its music students benefit from a training continuum from primary school to university. The faculty is composed of about fifty highly qualified musicians. A bridge program with Université Laval leads to a Bachelor of Music in performance profile of the CMQ and a Bachelor of Music Education. Instrumental composition is taught in a class working closely with composer Yannick Plamondon.
The Conservatoire is housed in the Grand Théâtre de Québec, where the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Opéra de Québec perform. Its facilities include a concert hall, a recording studio, practice studios, and a library with 35,000 books and 50,000 scores. Listed facilities also include Studio 29, classrooms, an interior courtyard, rentable halls, and instrument lending. The symphonic orchestra of college and university students gives three concerts per year, and voice students produce a full opera each year with sets, costumes and staging.
Applicants can apply through an early audition (audition hâtive), available at the collegial and university levels, or a regular audition.