Compositie
bachelor of master in de Kunsten

Composition

For whom?

  • You want to pursue your passion for composition and dream of a professional music career.
  • You want to further develop your artistic expertise with the help of internationally renowned professors.
  • You have the necessary knowledge and skills to pass the admission test.

Your future

With your degree in Composition, you can become a freelance musician or play in an orchestra/ensemble. You can also continue studying and become an artist-teacher or perhaps an artistic researcher? This study programme is the preparation for a brilliant future both on and off stage.

Seminar & Masterclasses

Renowned guest professors from Belgium and abroad are invited to pass on their knowledge to you. In recent years, we welcomed Nicolas Bacri among others.

Brussels

You will have the chance to study in a metropolis with both large concert halls as well as small jazz clubs, the ideal starting point for a professional music career. Your campuses are surrounded by beautiful cathedrals, trending coffee bars and green parks to unwind in.

The KCB focusses on the broad artistic formation of each individual. The lessons are based on direct interaction between teacher and student due to the small amount of students in each class. The great number of orchestral productions each year allows us to gain experience on the stage and learn the ins and outs of the greatest pieces is in music history.

Joachim
Joachim
Student Music

After your study

Professional music career

With a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Music from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, you can choose many professional directions. Who knows, a (inter)nationally renowned orchestra or ensemble might play your compositions or you might end up:

  • in the arts education field
  • in the social artistic field
  • at cultural institutions or governments as advisor or policy maker
KVDS

Further studies

Abbreviated bachelor's degree

After your bachelor, you can move on to a master's degree and even an additional master's degree in another instrument, through a abbreviated bachelor's degree. Postgraduates are also among the possibilities.

 

Verkorte Educatieve Master Muziek (only in Dutch)

Merk je tijdens je studie dat lesgeven iets voor jou is? Aan het KCB kan je ook een Verkorte Educatieve master Muziek volgen. Zo kan je meteen aan de slag als kunstenaar-leraar.

 

Artistic researcher

Interested in a career as an artistic researcher? KCB organises various events around research and also offers you the opportunity to do a PhD in collaboration with the Brussels Arts Platform and the VUB (university).

Your subjects

Bachelor

Required subjects Ba1 (Credits) BA2 (Credits) BA3 (Credits)
Harmony III 15    
Composition I, II, III 12 12 12
Counterpoint I   12  
Counterpoint II     18
Analysis of musical forms 1,2   6 6
Theory and Ear Training 2 4    
Rhythm and Intonation 2 5    
Music History 6    
Modules History of Music   6 6
Encyclopedia and Research 3    
History of Culture   3  
Organoloy 1,2 6 6  
Orchestration I     9
Instrumentation and Score Reduction   9  
Contemporary Music Notation     3
Optional Subjects 9 6 6
Total Credits 60 60 60

Master

Required Subjects Ma1 (Credits) Ma2 (Credits)
Composition IV 21  
Master exam   30
Artistic research pracctices 3  
Orchestration II, III 9 9
Contemporary composition techniques 6 6
Introduction to philosophy 3  
Optional Subjects 18 15
Totaal studiepunten 60 60

More information about your subjects.

Alumni in focus

Tim Mulleman

Tim Mulleman

Tim Mulleman (born 1993) is a Belgian composer, arranger and pianist. Tim is currently composing for I Solisti with soloist Jan Michiels. Tim has already composed for Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Het Collectief, Kugoni Trio (CD Etcetera 2021), Koi Collective, Natalia Jarzabek (first flutist Kraków Philharmonic, CD DUX 2019), etc. His music has already been heard on NPO4, BBC3. Klara, Musiq3, Radio 2 and VRT.NU.

More information about Tim.

Heleen Van Haegenborgh

Heleen makes compositions in the field of theatre, old music and contemporary music. In a review of her latest release (2023) and referring to her record for foghorns and piano (2013), she was described by Clive Bell in The Wire as a composer whose capacity for intrigue persists. In Belgium she worked closely together and made several records with visual artists and musicians with other backgrounds: jazz, electronics, Japanese music, free jazz,…

More information about Van Haegenborgh.

Heleen Van Haegenborgh
Evans Koçja

Evans Kocja

Starting as an autodidact and having been writing music from an early age, he was initially trained as an instrumentalist for then to pursue his passion for composition, firstly studying at the University of Arts in Tirana and then at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel later on. His continuous effortful search for his own musical style has led him to explore many aspects of music and develop a particular personal style. He has been awarded and received many prizes and commissions and his music has been performed by many soloists, ensembles and orchestras such as Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and has already taken the first steps in what promises to be an international career.

Your professors

In order to develop your talents to the fullest you need a teacher that is capable to help and motivate you in the right way. Our teaching staff is world renowned and have years and years of experience both as performers but also as pedagogues.

Do you have any specific questions before you register for the admission tests? Would you like to meet your teacher before you take the big step? Below is a list of all teachers with contact information.

docenten
Michel Bisceglia | Professor of Composition Film Music | Jazz Composition & Arrangement KCB

Michelino Bisceglia

Professor of Composition Film Music | Jazz Composition & Arrangement

Michelino Bisceglia has been active in the musical field for more than three decades. His work has been recognised and celebrated at various international events and festivals.

Bisceglia's work as a film composer began later in his career, since then he has composed soundtracks for numerous feature films that have been screened at prestigious festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice International Film Festival. He was the composer for the 10-part series "Thieves of the Wood", which was released worldwide on Netflix in 2020. In addition, Bisceglia has composed music for several exhibitions, including the highly acclaimed "Claude Monet Immersive Experience". He has won several awards for his work in film music, including the World Soundtrack Award Public Choice in 2014 for his work on the film "Marina" directed by Stijn Coninx. In 2022, he received another nomination for the World Soundtrack Award 2022 for his soundtrack of the Canadian-British animated drama "Charlotte", starring Keira Knightly. His most recent nomination this time was for "Breakthrough composer of the Year" by the International Film Music Critics Association - IFMCA.

Bisceglia has worked with some of the world's leading orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Hungarian Studio Orchestra, Galaxy Studio Orchestra and The Japan Symfonia. He has released several albums of his own compositions, including "Orchestral Works 1," which features the highly acclaimed Brussels Chamber Orchestra, the oboe soloist Piet Van Bockstal, and the AMK Choir. 
Bisceglia currently finished working on a new concerto for trumpet and orchestra, and he is set to score the soundtrack for the upcoming film "Sleep" by Dutch director Jan-Willem van Ewijk.

Bisceglia's musical talent extends beyond film and orchestral music, he is also known as a highly skilled jazz pianist. He has worked with such artists as Dewey Redman, Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer and Toots Thielemans. On top of that, he recorded dozens of records for such renowned labels as RCA Victor, Enja Records, Prova Records and Blue Note. Bisceglia has performed at several international jazz festivals with his own jazz trio and has established himself as a versatile and accomplished musician.

For more information, consult Michelino Bisceglia's website: www.michelinobisceglia.com

Do not hesitate to contact Michelino Bisceglia: michelino.bisceglia@ehb.be.

Jurgen De Pillecyn

Jurgen De Pillecyn

Researcher & professor Composition

Born in Hamme in 1965, he enrolled at 1986 from KCB where he obtained several first prizes (fugue 1989). In 2000 he rounded off his studies with both a Masters Degree in Music Writing as in Composition (with Rafaël D’Haene). Together with his studies at the Conservatoire he studied Musicology at the KUL which led to a Masters Degree likewise, with a dissertation on the influence of Schumann on Brahms. He teaches at KCB since 1989 (Music Writing and Composition) and also at the Academy of Music of Schaarbeek (Music History). 

His compositions are regularly performed in and outside Belgium and cover all genres : songs (in Dutch, French, German), chamber music (among them 3 string quartets and a sextuor), orchestral music (also a clarinet concerto) , music for solo instruments, choir. In 2018 his Oratorio ‘ Letters from the soul’ was performed on several occasions in Belgium and the Unites States. He gave masterclasses at several colleges and universities in Italy and the USA.
He is member of the Robert Schumann Gesellschaft Düsseldorf and  Alumnus of the Académie Royale de Belgique.
 

Contact Jurgen:

E-mail

Peter Swinnen

Peter Swinnen

Head of Music | professor Chamber Music & Composition

Peter Swinnen was born on 31 January 1965 in Lier. From 1983 to 1992 he studied at Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, where he earned first prizes in music history, cello, chamber music, composition and practical harmony. He became a graduate of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo after studying with André Laporte from 1989 to 1992. In 1993 he took master classes with Michael Finnissy and five years later with Brian Ferneyhough. In 2009 Swinnen also obtained a Doctorate of Arts from the Free University of Brussels.

From 1990 to 1997 he taught cello in various music schools, and since 1992 he has also taught analysis at KCB. In 2002 and 2004, he added Music Technology and Composition respectively. He also worked from 1997 to 2004 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for the ear training programme UniSono. Between 2004 and 2015 Swinnen worked on a project concerning score analysis, in cooperation with KCB and the Mathematics Department of the Free University of Brussels. In addition he worked freelance for VRT (the national broadcast cooperation) until 2008 and is regularly asked to provide the Live Electronics for various ensembles and also as sound director for CD recordings. From 2008 to 2017 Swinnen was director of KCB. In 2021 he became head of the Music Department of Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. 

For his complete works he was awarded the 1991 CERA Prize - Youth and Music Flanders, and his opera The Petrifying Blue received the 1992 Provincial Prize for Music Composition from the Province of Antwerp. He also wrote music for the BRTN film Andres, a realisation by Dirk Greyspeirt with choreography by José Besprosvany, which won the Premio Choreografo Elettronico 1993 and, two years later, the 34th Prize Bert Leysen. For his piece Quar'l Peter Swinnen was awarded the "Prix de Musique Contemporaine from Quebec" in 1997. Twice he won the National Composition Competition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition: in 1997 with Canzone and in 2001 with Ciaccona. In 2005 the Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences and Arts awarded him the prize Laureate of the Class of Arts.

Contact Peter Swinnen:

Email

Annelies Van Parys

Annelies Van Parys

Professor Composition, formal analysis & orchestration

Annelies Van Parys (°1975) is one of Belgium’s leading composers. She writes solo and chamber music works as well as large orchestral compositions with a great preference for music theatre. Since 2007, as a resident composer of Muziektheater Transparant, she wrote a lot of music theatrical works. Amongst them some remarkable pieces such as RUHE, An Oresteïa and Private View, her first opera that one no less than five prizes including the Fedora-Rolf Lieberman Prize. Together with librettist Gaea Schoeters, she wrote the opera USHER, as a direct commission of Staatsoper Berlin and Folkoperan Stockholm where it was performed in resp. 2018 and 2019 with a revival already in 2020 in Berlin. The opera was nominated for the coveted Opera Awards. She also received lots of praise for A War Requiem for the Belgian National Orchestra and Collegium Vocale Ghent, with Sophie Karthauser and Thomas Bauer as soloists and Hugh Wolff as a conductor that was the closing event of the official commemorations of WWI in Belgium. Her most recent orchestra composition is a commission for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and will be premiered in January 2021 under the baton of Matthias Pintscher.
More information: www.anneliesvanparys.be

 

Contact Annelies Van Parys:

Email

Project in the spotlights

Nicolas Bacri | Concert, Masterclass & Lecture Composition

French composer, Nicolas Bacri, visited our conservatoire in 2023. He gave an instructive lecture and masterclass to the students and closed the day with a concert. 

Nicolas Bacri (f Olivier M. Palade)

Your campus

Campus Regentschapsstraat & Kleine Zavel

Our campuses are located in the vibrant Sablon district right in the heart of Brussels. The Conservatoire's stately main building on the Regentschapsstraat with its magnificent Concert Hall is one of Brussel's landmarks. Around the corner is our campus on Kleine Zavel where you can attend classes and study in the best conditions. Moreover, you can use our premises to study during the week and at weekends.

How can I access the campuses?

Alexandre KCB
Regent KCB

Renovation of the main building

After years of negotiations, we are proud to announce that the plans for the renovation of our impressive main building on Regentschapsstraat have been approved. More info on this can be found here.

Go abroad

During your studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, you will come in contact with the world: after all, you study in Brussels, Europe's most cosmopolitan capital. KCB offers guest lectures by international professionals or by a professor from a foreign partner school, international projects,... we will train you to become a professional ready for tomorrow's increasingly international world.

Do you want to spend some time abroad yourself? You can! Studying for a semester (or academic year) at a partner university or doing an internship abroad, mais oui, of course! Find out more about internationalisation.

KVDS

Visit us!

Info Moments

We organise several info moments during the second semester, such as (online) info days and open class moments.

Concerts

We welcome you to our many concerts, masterclasses and research days. Also come and listen to a caleidoscoop concert by our BA1 and BA2 students or our public exams. That way you can see what you would learn as a future KCB student. Every academic year, there are numerous productions in which our students perform. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay informed.

INFO & TICKETS

f Pepa Niebla - nieuwjaarsconcert

Enrolment & Admission Tests

To start your studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, you must pass an artistic admission test. For information on the entrance exams - such as dates, the programmes to prepare, the enrolment conditions/fees and the module to enrol - click on the button below.

ADMISSION TESTS

KCB KVDS

Any question?

For more information on this programme you can contact the student administration via secretariaat.kcb@ehb.be.