Housed in a wing of the Palais de Fontainebleau, less than an hour south of Paris, the Fontainebleau School's Summer Session is held for five weeks in Architecture and Fine Arts and four weeks in Music. The majority of students are American, joined by some French, European and Asian students. The faculty is primarily French or based in France and offers a unique educational opportunity.
The Conservatoire Americain was founded in 1921 to introduce the best American music students to the French musical tradition of teaching, composition and performance. It has included on its faculty the most prestigious names : Maurice Ravel, Marcel Dupré, Robert Gaby, Jean Casadesus, Jean Francaix, Henri Dutilleux, Betsy Jolas, Leonard Bernstein, to name but a few. Since its inception, Nadia Boulanger devoted her talent, energy, knowledge, and influence to the Conservatoire Américain of which she was Director from 1949 to 1979 . The Conservatoire Américain has played a major role in the training of a large number of famous American musicians such as Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Louise Talma, Samuel Dushkin, Elliot Carter, Beveridge Webster, Kenton Coe and more. Under its new Director, Philippe Entremont, the Conservatoire Américain continues to fulfill its mission, enlarging it to include European and Asian students.
The Ecole des Beaux-Arts, founded two years later, adopted the same mission in the spheres of painting, architecture, and sculpture. Inspired by surroundings of both the magnificent formal gardens and the particularly rich history of the Palais itself, which dates back to the Renaissance, its faculty has included prestigious international names: F. Candela, A. Cuny, B. Doshi, Sheila Hicks, L. Kroll, R. Licata, R. Péchére, B. Rasica, Paolo Soleri, J. Soltan, A. Van Eyck, Y. Wohlert. Past directors were J. Carlu, A. Remondet, P. Devinoy, B. de la Tour d'Auvergne, M. Tournon-Branly, J.L. Nouvian.
The current director, French architect, Jean-Marie Charpentier will oversee a curriculum which includes:
Workshops conducted in numerous disciplines. The core curriculum includes architecture, landscape, painting, sculpture with possible courses in photography, fresco painting, stained-glass and mosaic. Students are required to accomplish projects in at least three disciplines.
Numerous field trips are organized to acquaint students with the finest masterpieces of French art and architecture, both historic and contemporary. Classes and workshops take place in and around the magnificent Chateau of Fontainebleau. The various buildings and gardens of the Chateau provide an outstanding inspirational setting.
Students come from some of the best American universities. Since recently, the enrollment for both the School of Fine Arts and the Music Conservatory is open to students from European countries with the help of the U.I.A., the Union Internationale des Architectes, Region I.
Partnerships with universities and schools of architecture already exist in Poland and Czechoslovakia and have been extended to Hungary, Romania, and Russia to allow students from these countries to participate and to increase the cross-cultural character of the fine arts school.
All students may apply for partial financial aid. Distribution is merit-based, and reviewed by the applications committee.
