Australia’s most vibrant and prestigious music institution

Our thriving community of students, teachers, academics and researchers reflects the many dimensions of musical creativity and experience. Together, we work to sustain the vitality of music in society and to shape the future of music in Australia and across the globe.

Our home is the spectacular The Ian Potter Southbank Centre, nestled in the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct.

We respectfully acknowledge the people of the Boonwurrung and the Woi Wurrung, who have danced their dances, sung their songs and lived their culture on this land for tens of thousands of years.

Welcome to the Conservatorium, from Professor Richard Kurth

Professor Richard Kurth, Director of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, invites you to join our musical community and to explore our exceptional Ian Potter Southbank Centre.

Our heritage

The Faculty was created in 2009 following the amalgamation of the University's Faculty of Music and Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts. It was renamed the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music in 2018 to reflect the primary undergraduate degree structures offered by the Faculty: the Bachelor of Music and the Bachelor of Fine Arts.

The Faculty is also home to the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, which works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to identify, recruit and support potential and practicing Indigenous Artists to study and refine their academic and artistic skills.

The first Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne was awarded in 1879, and the Conservatorium was founded in 1894. Dame Nellie Melba laid the foundation stone for a permanent conservatorium building on the University’s Parkville campus in 1909, and the building was opened in 1913.

The Conservatorium today

The Conservatorium provides training in a comprehensive range of musical disciplines, including Music Performance, Composition, Jazz and Improvisation, Interactive Composition, Early Music, Musicology, Ethnomusicology, Music Therapy, Music Psychology and Performance Science and New Music.

Our internationally recognised teachers are committed to challenging and inspiring our students to create their own unique paths in music. To complement the knowledge and performance expertise on staff at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, our students also benefit from visiting performers and academics from around the world.

Much of the Conservatorium's teaching, research and performance takes place in, or near, the Ian Potter Southbank Centre on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus.

Our facilities on the University's Parkville campus, including Melba Hall, are also used for teaching, research and performances.

Ian Potter Southbank Centre

Our nine-story facility sets a new standard for music training institutions worldwide. Our public performance spaces, rehearsal rooms, and state-of-the-art technology allows us to train, perform, and conduct research in new and exciting ways. We connect directly with professional partner organisations in the precinct, such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, with whom we run a Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) - the first course of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

Learn more

University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

The University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, led by world-renowned conductor Associate Professor Richard Davis and featuring our very best student classical musicians, is the premier large performance ensemble at the University.

University of Melbourne Wind Symphony

The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony, directed by international conductor, Associate Professor Nicholas Enrico Williams features the most talented wind, brass and percussion students in the University.

Our disciplines

Composition

Develop an original compositional voice. Explore the key concepts and techniques in music composition. Learn all phases of the composition process to create a professionally presented score.

Early Music

We house a vast collection of early music resources and scores, and train our students in instrumental and vocal performance.

Ethnomusicology

Explore current music-making in a global context, and new performance skills in traditional music from around the world. Engage in ethnographic research on music in social, cultural and historical contexts.

Interactive Composition

Prepare for an intensive, commercially led, collaborative program that teaches you how to create music and sound for a range of contemporary media contexts and platforms.

Jazz and Improvisation

Celebrate great Australian Jazz and improvised music performance in a unique studio-intensive approach that nurtures future music performers and directors through repertoire, improvisation skills and technical studies.

Music Performance

Prepare for life as a professional musician. Learn and develop through weekly individual instrumental, vocal or composition lessons, instrument classes, and extensive solo and ensemble performance opportunities.

Music Psychology

Explore the ways that music impacts our emotions, relationships, brain and bodies using a range of research approaches to explore the connection between music and individuals.

Musicology

Write and think critically about music and sound. Develop the academic skills to research how and why people make music across a wide range of historical and social contexts.

Music Therapy

As the first course of its kind offered in Australia in 1978, Music Therapy at the Conservatorium now provides a comprehensive study of the theory, practice and research of music therapy.

New Music

The New Music Studio unites the disciplines of Composition and Performance for a broad range of contemporary music activities and events that are held each semester within the Faculty.

Performance Teaching

Develop a range of teaching approaches for the delivery of instrumental or vocal lessons that foster independent, reflective, motivated and cooperative learning.

News

University of Melbourne and Australian Chamber Orchestra partnership renewal spotlights the value of music and education at every level

24 September 2024
University of Melbourne students and staff, and Victorian primary school students, will be among the key beneficiaries of a seven-year extension to the University’s excl...

Melbourne Conservatorium of Music appoints new Wind Symphony conductor

24 July 2024
The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is delighted to announce Dr Jaclyn Hartenberger’s appointment as Associate Professor of Wind Conducting....

Music Psychology student wins University’s Visualise Your Thesis competition

22 July 2024
Music Psychology PhD student Sabrina McKenzie has recently won the University of Melbourne’s Visualise Your Thesis competition....