Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Director's welcome
The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is Australia’s oldest and most prestigious music institution. As the largest community of music students and academics in Australia, reflecting many dimensions of musical creativity and experience, we work to sustain the vitality of music in society and to shape the future of our art form.
The Conservatorium now enjoys a spectacular and inspiring new home in The Ian Potter Southbank Centre, situated in the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct. Our architecturally stunning cutting-edge nine-storey facility allows us to train, perform, and conduct research in new and exciting ways. We can now connect directly with our 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. And we are now side-by-side with our colleagues in the Victorian College of the Arts, with whom we form the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music of the University of Melbourne.
Our new Southbank location will stimulate all manner of creative collaborations across the fine and performing arts, and the new building complements our historic facilities on the University’s Parkville campus, including the world-famous Melba Hall, where we continue to present concerts and lectures, and interact with students and researchers from across the University.
Our teachers are internationally recognised and well-connected professionals who are committed to challenging and inspiring our students to become future leaders in music. The scope of scholarly knowledge and performance expertise available to our students is also frequently augmented by visits from eminent colleagues from around the globe, and enhanced by internationally-renowned creative partners, including a new five-year exclusive partnership with the Australia Chamber Orchestra, supported by the Sydney Myer University Trust. The Conservatorium enjoys extensive global networks and boasts an exceptionally high level of performance, all of which puts us at the forefront of music education, teaching, and research in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
I warmly invite you to attend our many public events and wonderful performances throughout the year, to watch our webcasts, and to stay connected through our social media channels and e-news. I know you will be as thrilled as I am to be part of this exceptional musical community!
Professor Richard Kurth | Director, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Wominjeka
Welcome to the traditional lands of the Kulin Nations, where we draw on the strength of more than 1,000 generations of arts practice.
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.
Conservatorium Concerts
The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music showcases our music students and academics via our public events, live-streamed concerts and wonderful performances throughout the year.
Learn more and watch previous performancesOur 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 a comprehensive range of musical disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate level, including Music Performance, Composition, Jazz and Improvisation, Interactive Composition, Early Music, Musicology, Ethnomusicology, Music Therapy, Music Psychology and Performance Science and New Music.
Much of the Conservatorium's teaching, research and performance takes place in, or near, the new 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.
University of Melbourne Wind Symphony
Our Discipline Areas
Composition
Early Music
Ethnomusicology
Interactive Composition
Jazz and Improvisation
Music Performance
Music Psychology
Musicology
Music Therapy
New Music
Performance Teaching
Research at the Conservatorium
Undertake scholarly, studio or performance-based research and practice within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Discover opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary development.
Explore research