The centre has its headquarters in a refurbished 18th century pavilion in front of the Reina Sofía National Art Gallery and just a few metres from Atocha station. It is the oldest public music teaching institution in Spain, where most of the leading Spanish musicians and composers of the past two centuries have trained.
Since its opening on 12th December 1990, the Music Conservatory Superior has the capacity for 1,400 students and ninety teachers. It consists of various classrooms of different sizes, 27 studio cabins and two auditoriums. The refurbishment has recovered the original layout of the building, adapting it to the needs of a music teaching centre. The interior design has achieved the conjunction of what is functional and aesthetic, where the old and the new come together in perfect harmony.
The building houses a museum which, since 2007, has featured an exhibition that offers the public a chance to view, in an organised format and for the first time ever, the collection of musical instruments belonging to Madrid’s Royal Conservatory of Music. It includes old instruments, scores, methods and other objects, some of them purchased for use in classes and others donated by former teachers, musicians or private individuals.
The Royal Music Conservatory in Madrid was founded by Queen María Cristina in 1830 like the music teaching institutions that existed in other countries, particularly in Italy and France.
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