conservatoire
/kənˈsəːvətwɑː
/noun British
A college for the study of classical music or other arts, typically in the continental European tradition: she studies piano and violin at the Paris Conservatoire...
- Between them, music schools and conservatoires have 200,000 students.
- Having avoided the conventional musical education of the conservatoire, he was able to bypass the normal paths of French music of the 1860s, and to explore a new harmonic idiom and especially a novel way of writing for the piano.
- This contains some swingeing comments on the status of music in our modern society and the methods of musical upbringing in some conservatoires, which exalt mechanical accomplishment above enquiring mindset.
Origin
Late 18th century: French, from Italian conservatorio, from late Latin conservatorium, from conservare 'to preserve' (see conserve). Compare with conservatory.