The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague has an ambitious goal: to train tomorrow’s artists. We help students develop their artistic and creative talents to the highest possible standard. We foster excellence, critical capacity, and creativity in our students by continually challenging them to pursue new paths in professional practice.

Developing your craft as a musician is the first pillar of your study experience. Through individual main subject lessons, chamber music classes and theory classes, you develop yourself as a professional musician able to perform on an international level.

Solid preparation for a professional career is more important than ever. By playing in projects you learn how to work in a professional environment. International projects and collaboration with partner orchestras and ensembles make for a professionally oriented study environment.

Electives and minors allow you to take lessons in another department of the conservatoire and benefit from its strengths. Examples are three-year minors in subjects such as composition, conducting, early music, jazz, singing or education.

Main Subject Classical Music Saxophone

The saxophone class aims to train students to become musicians with their own musical identity, who can level with instrumentalists with a longer musical tradition. For the sake of artistic development, playing good arrangements of old(er) music alongside the traditional saxophone repertoire and new music plays an important role during the studies. Main subject teachers Lars Niederstrasser and Raaf Hekkema have acquired significant expertise in this. Contact with other instrumentalists/instrumental groups and the internationally highly regarded composition class is encouraged and logistically supported.

In the saxophone class, students are taught by their own main subject teacher. Occasionally, it is also possible to be taught by other teachers to learn different perspectives. In addition, there are weekly classroom group lessons with piano accompaniment given alternately by the two main subject teachers. The aim is to jointly build and maintain a musical aesthetic and develop technical skills to perform it. To learn how to play together, chamber music is practised within the saxophone class, led by one of the main subject teachers. There is also a chamber music programme outside the saxophone class, where playing with non-saxophonists is encouraged.

In addition to occasional projects, the curriculum includes:

• Monthly performances by the saxophone class with pianist Alessandro Soccorsi
• Chamber music coaching with mixed ensembles
• Sax ensemble with Lars Niederstrasser
• Masterclasses from international saxophonists (Simon Diricq, Arno Bornkamp, Joonatan Rautiola, Rob Buckland)
• Group lessons from other main subject teachers (recently: oboe, cello)
• Group lessons from specialists in early music
• Newly composed works by the composition class, performed during the annual Spring Festival
• Project on authentic Adolphe Sax saxophones by teacher of historical development Erik-Jan de With
• Projects with other instrument groups (recently: trombone, percussion)
• Biennial side-by-side project: CalefaXL reed orchestra with Raaf Hekkema
• ECMA chamber music coaching

Below you can find an overview of the

• theory teachers
• chamber music teachers
• coach pianists
• educational skills teachers

in the Classical Department.