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The Conservatory is an Institution of upper level artistic, music and coreutica education, which offers artistic, cultural and professional preparation of musicians. An admission exam is required for acceptance to the Conservatory. A first-level academic diploma is given after a three-year program. This diploma is equivalent to the three-year university degree. After this it is possible to attend the final biennio program to obtain a specialist diploma of the second level, which is equivalent to a six-year (five-year?) university degree.
The students who are under eighteen can request admission to a preparatory course of pre-academic training organized in three cycles which last for different time periods, depending on the discipline.
The Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Venice has an important historical background comparable to few other conservatories in Europe. It is in the monumental Pisani Palace, the largest patrician palace in Venice, which is in the heart of the city near St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge. Decorated with frescos, statues, marble ornamentation, stucco and friezes, it is divided into separate internal courtyards with loggias and large salons on many floors, one of which is the spectacular concert hall surrounded by columns and dominated by a gallery which circumscribes the entire perimeter.
There are numerous spaces for classrooms and study, with rooms appropriate for orchestral and choral practice. The collection of instruments is extensive and precious. The electronic music school, founded by Giuseppe Sinopoli and continued by Alvise Vidolin, has continually updated its equipment. The library is among the most important in Italy and has about 50,000 volumes, with sizable historic collections and is next to a Museum which preserves ancient instruments, manuscripts and objects of different epochs, among which some objects donated by Richard Wagner are particularly important.
Besides its considerable didactic activity which attracts students from all over the world, the Conservatory promotes active performance and research. Thanks to the Erasmus and Leonardo Programs, exchanges with other countries of the European Union is very lively. The fact that the Conservatory is part of an international city like Venice, with a cultural vocation, allows for collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts, the La Fenice Theater, the Biennale, the University of Ca’ Foscari, the Cini Foundation, the Veneto Institute of Science, Letters and Arts, Ateneo Veneto, the Levi Foundation and many more institutions. Because of this, professional opportunities at the end of one’s studies are already present in the Venetian ambience.
In the course of its history of more than a century, the Venetian Conservatory has been directed by figures such as Marco Enrico Bossi, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Renato Fasano, Nino Antonellini, Ugo Amendola.
The list of illustrious professors who have taught here is very extensive: Michelangelo Abbado, Guido Agosti, Luisa Baccra, Eugenio Bagnoli, Arturo Bendetti Michelangeli, Carlo Betocchi, Riccardo Brengola, Valentino Bucchi, Pina Carminelli, Sandro Dalla LIbera, Wolfango Dalla Vecchia, Francesco De Guarnieri, Luigi Ferro, Egida Giordani Sartori, Gino Gorini, Ettore Gracis, Maria Vittoria Guidi, Lino Liviabella, Sergio Lorenzi, Bruno Maderna, Marrio Messinis, Virgilio Mortari, Rio Nardi, Carlo Pestalozza, Piero Rattalino, Nino Sanzogno, Gino Tagliapietra, Adriano Vendramelli, Renato Zanettovich, Renato Zanfini. The Conservatory maintains a tradition of rigor, discipline and selectivity which has always been the reason for its prestige.
M° Massimo Contiero