Type Private President Richard Ortner Campus Urban Phone +1 617-536-6340 | Established 1867 Enrollment Approximately 750 Acceptance rate 39% (2014) | |
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Address 8 Fenway, Boston, MA 02215, USA Notable alumni Lily Afshar, Katharine McPhee, Constantine Maroulis, Chad Kimball, Gerard Alessandrini Profiles | ||
The Boston Conservatory is a performing arts conservatory located in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance and theater. The Conservatory offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Music degrees, as well as Graduate Performance Diplomas, Artist Diplomas and Professional Studies Certificates. The Boston Conservatory was founded in 1867.
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In recent years, the school has increasingly become informally known as "BoCo," both on campus and in the larger community.
In December 2015, Berklee College of Music and The Boston Conservatory agreed to merge. The merge was official in Summer 2016. The combined institution, located in Boston’s historic Back Bay and Fenway neighborhoods, is now known as “Berklee,” with the Conservatory being “Boston Conservatory at Berklee.”
History
The Boston Conservatory was founded on February 11, 1867 by Julius Eichberg, a violinist and composer. Eichberg founded the Conservatory as a professional training academy and a community music school. It was one of the first conservatories to grant admission to African Americans and women. In 1873, Eichberg’s operetta, “The Doctor of Alcontara” was performed at the Conservatory by the first African-American opera company in the U.S. In 1878, Eichberg established the Eichberg String Quartet, the first professional female quartet.
Mr. Eichberg's death in 1893 lead to the direction of R. Marriner Floyd with Herman P. Chelius, organist and composer serving as the musical director. Under their direction, the school was first incorporated in 1896.
After the turn of the century, the Conservatory merged with the National Associated Studios of Music, and created the first "grand opera" department in the U.S.. In 1943, Jan Veen established The Boston Conservatory Dance Division, the first program to emphasize both classical ballet and America's emerging modern dance. In 1951, the school gained authority to award Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in drama and dance.
Currently, The Boston Conservatory is an independent private college which has accredited programs in music, dance and theater. The Conservatory presents more than 700 performances each year.
In 2015, The Boston Conservatory began talks with Berklee College of Music to explore a merger of the two schools. On January 19, 2016, the two schools announced that they would be merging. The agreement was signed the next day, with Berklee College of Music being renamed Berklee and Conservatory being renamed The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Programs of Study
High School & Collegiate Programs
Student life
Instead of dormitories, The Boston Conservatory uses Victorian brownstones for on-campus housing. Undergraduate rooms consist of quints, quads, triples, doubles, and singles. Freshmen are required to live on-campus, unless they commute from their home of origin.
Approximately 29% of students live on campus.