Conservatorium van Amsterdam: Poppodium in Oosterdok

★★★★★ 4.4

The Conservatorium van Amsterdam is the city's music academy, in a glass building on the Oosterdokskade beside Centraal and the OBA library. It is more than a school to outsiders: students perform almost every day, so you can hear classical, jazz and early music up close in its concert halls, often from the next generation of professionals. The agenda covers the CvA Symphony Orchestra, the Sweelinck Baroque Orchestra, the Concert Big Band, Score Collective, Jong Talent and individual students' recitals, plus masterclasses open to the public. Concerts take place in the Bernard Haitinkzaal, the Sweelinckzaal, the Ensemblezaal and other rooms, and some are streamed live. The building also has recording studios and a large foyer. The school is part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts. It came about through mergers: the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium dates from 1884 and the present name from 1994, when the Sweelinck Conservatorium joined the Hilversum conservatoire. Until 2008 it sat on the Van Baerlestraat, in the building that is now the Conservatorium Hotel. The new home is by architect Frits van Dongen, with teaching rooms on the inside of the building surrounded by corridors.