The protagonists of the video that accompanies this news do not want to emulate any sports idol or do direct from Twitch. They are young Spanish music lovers and are part of the growing number of students who aspire to turn classical music into their profession. Only in the 2020-2021 academic year, there were 98,191 students of Regulated Music Education, while the elite of that group, who enrolled in Higher Music Studies, were 9,258 (of them 6,871 in public centers and 2,387 in private), the record of registered registrations since data exist (2005). In the video report, three young people aged 17, 21 and 27, who are going through a critical moment in their musical training, chat with EL PAÍS about the difficulties of accessing the Higher Degree in Music and the professional opportunities of their career in Spain.
We accompany Julia García-Pelayo (Jerez de la Frontera, 2003) to the tests of the Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid (RCSMM), in which she has a 23.7% chance of getting a place on her instrument, the piano, after having passed an exam at the Bonifacio Gil Superior Conservatory of Music (Badajoz).
We chat with Matteo Giulani (Madrid, 1999), who has just finished his higher degree and is preparing to study for a master's degree in Austria or Germany, after having obtained the first achievements in his career, such as having already performed several piano concerts at the Auditorium National.
And we spoke with Milena Martinez (Valladolid, 1993), who has already completed a master's degree in Amsterdam, and has been selected in the La Caixa scholarship program and is preparing her doctorate in the United States.
More information
Gustavo Gimeno, the most international Spanish conductor
Víctor Pliego, deputy director of the Royal Superior Conservatory of Madrid, confirms the rise of these studies in Spain: "In the Royal Conservatory the demand continues to rise," he says.
In fact, in the 2019-2020 academic year (the most recent with enrollment records by instrument), 753 students were enrolled throughout Spain in piano.
“Musicians are not usually unemployed.
The most common occupations are teaching and interpreting, often simultaneously, as it pays very poorly.
But there are also those who dedicate themselves to management and production, to creation or research, ”says Pliego, who recalls that of the 9,258 students (5,388 are men and 3,870 women), he shows the growing interest in these studies for 15 years, when in the 2005-2006 academic year there were 7,038.
