IESM’s educational project is in line with the legacy of the Conservatoire de Paris and its tradition of French excellence. Backed by the quality of its teaching team, IESM is committed to training and supporting young performers at the highest level who are open to the professional world of the performance arts.

Thanks to its location at the boundary between Europe and the Mediterranean, IESM enjoys a unique position in all of Europe. The intersection between this region and the various forms of culture which animate it (Western and non-Western art music, improvisational music, etc.) offers fertile ground that is highly conducive to the development of creativity.

Since its creation, one of IESM’s hallmarks has been the inclusion of improvisation, composition and openness to new aesthetics in its organization, by way of its programme of composers in residence. As a result, figures as varied as Edith Canat de Chisy, Claude Ballif, Reinhard Flender, Philippe Mion, Camille Roy, François Rossé, Henry Fourès and André Bon have had residence contracts leading to specific productions. This project is also based on professional players and structures that share the same goal, such as the GMEM centre for musical creation, the International Festival of Lyric Art, and the list goes on.

Its activities relating to the performance arts place the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in 3rd position amongst France’s regions, after Ile-de-France and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. This land of employment for performers and teachers features 15,000 shows, 6,600 paid freelance media industry workers, 2,000 professional artists, ensembles, groups and troupes, six permanent lyric and symphonic institutions, nine SMACs (current and contemporary musical halls), 1,800 teaching establishments including 92 public music and dance schools, and 30,000 school-age students.

Performances on professional stages is a key component of IESM’s educational project, that relies on our many partners in the performance arts sector: the Cannes Orchestra, Avignon Provence Regional Orchestra, Toulon Opera Orchestra, Musicatreize Ensemble and Concert Hall, GMEM Music Centre, Grand Théâtre de Provence, International Festival of Lyric Art, International Piano Festival of La Roque d’Anthéron, Southern French Writers’ Festival, Messiaen Festival in Pays de la Meije, Le Petit Duc Concert Hall, IMFP Professional Music Institute and State-ranked conservatories managed by local and regional governments.

IESM’s artistic, educational and cultural project is synergistic and unique on the national scene of higher musical education hubs in France. While IESM has the goal of training students at the highest level so they can continue their studies and their artistic activities in France, Europe and beyond, the institute is also concerned with the employment and occupational integration of those young artists and teachers within the region. To that end, IESM’s project incorporates the region’s rich aesthetic context and the need to prepare young artists to promote it through specific practices.