Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona

The Conservatorio Municipal de Música de Barcelona (in Catalan and officially, Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona) is a teaching institution dedicated to music education, owned by Barcelona City Council.

Its origins date back to 1886, when it was founded by the Barcelona municipal music band as a Music School, in order to recruit new musicians to join it, in a similar way to other cities that also had a band and felt the same need.

Its first director was Josep Rodoreda until 1896, when he was replaced by Antoni Nicolau. In 1911 the post of deputy director was created, and it was held by Enric Morera until 1935. In 1930, when a new director had to be chosen, Lluís Millet – more conservative in outlook than Morera and the city council's preferred candidate – took up the post, which caused considerable controversy.

Meanwhile, in 1928 the institution had moved to the corner of the Bruc and València streets.

Millet left the post in the year the Spanish Civil War ended, and the following year he was succeeded by Joan Baptista Lambert, who held the post until 1945. It was during this period that the school became a conservatoire, and in the last year of his term a new curriculum was introduced, based on the 1942 decree that regulated the studies of conservatoires across the country.

When Lambert died, Joaquín Zamacois accepted the post, which he held until 1965. During this period contacts were made with other European conservatoires, important figures at European level were invited, and both a chair of early music and the Museo de la Música de Barcelona were inaugurated.

In 1952 Joan Pich y Santasusana was appointed deputy director, succeeding Zamacois on an interim basis until 1968 and with a full appointment until 1977, by which time the first democratically elected city councils were in place. In keeping with the times, he made considerable efforts to regularise the institution and to decentralise it, given that it remained – and would continue to be for many years – the only public music education institution in the city. Furthermore, it was during his term that the new curriculum emerging from the decree published in 1966 was introduced at this conservatoire – and across the rest of the state. That curriculum was to govern professional music education in Spain for more than four decades. To help students give concerts during their training, he planned the construction of the auditorium, but it was opened by Xavier Turull, who had been appointed director in 1977. During this period the student orchestra, conducted by Edmon Colomer, enjoyed a certain stability, the Museo de la Música moved to Casa Quadras, and the first steps were taken towards creating the conservatoire's library. Disagreements with the city council led him to resign in 1982, and he was succeeded first by Maria Cateura and then by Marçal Gols. Gols carried out a major restructuring, decentralising the institution, limiting enrolment in certain instruments, reducing teaching staff in some specialisms and encouraging enrolment in string instruments.

But not everyone within the institution understood these reforms, and he left the post.