The Rainier III Academy: over 100 years of music

The Rainier III Academy offers classes to learn all types of musical instruments and styles, from early music to jazz. Since 2008 it has also offered classes in the dramatic arts.

Monaco’s first municipal music school was founded in 1922 to offer “free public lessons in music theory and ensemble music”. Naturally, the school was entrusted to the Monegasque musician and composer Louis Abbiate (1866-1933), who after the October Revolution had returned from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he taught music. A cellist and virtuoso with an international career, Abbiate composed a vast catalogue of pieces for piano and organ along with concertos and symphonies.

Managed by Monaco City Hall, the Rainier III Academy ensures a broad range of educational, cultural and artistic programmes for different types of students. Children aged six and up can discover a new instrument (string, wind, ancient instruments, percussion and traditional instruments), singing, or group activities (including choir, children’s choir, chamber music or orchestras), and advanced subjects such as written music, musical education and analysis. In close collaboration with the Department of Education, Youth and Sport, the Academy also offers in-class courses at specific times for primary and lower secondary (collège) students. The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera regularly include Academy students in their productions.

The Academy has a Dramatic Arts programme based on new developments in the arts, on representations of humankind and its place in the world, a broad range of theatre aesthetics, from the most contemporary to the most classic, and an introduction to cinema techniques. The professionally trained musician Jade Sapolin has been the Academy’s Director since 2020.

Find out more: https://www.academierainier3.mc