Sibelius Confirmed as No.1 Choice for World's Top Music Conservatoires

Royal Conservatoire in Ghent, Belgium Becomes the 40th Leading Conservatoire to Choose Sibelius

London, UK, July 4, 2006

Sibelius is now used by more leading conservatoires than any other notation software - with the Royal Conservatoire in Ghent, Belgium becoming the latest.

Almost all of the world's leading conservatoires have now been won-over by Sibelius, including The Royal Academy in London, The Juilliard School of Music in New York, The University of Sydney and The Royal School of Music in Sweden. These prestigious institutions are using the product to help develop the skills of tomorrow's finest musicians.

The Royal Conservatoire in Ghent, Belgium purchased 150 licenses of Sibelius 4 to assist degree and higher-level students with notation, composition and arrangement. Sibelius was chosen for its unique combination of powerful musical functionality, time-saving features and ease of use.

Comments from Conservatoires running Sibelius include…

Paul Patterson, Composer & professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London:

"When I'm teaching Sibelius to beginners at the Academy I can have them up and running, writing a simple score, within about half an hour. It's quite amazing."

Prof Anne Boyd, Head of Composition at the University of Sydney:

"When teaching composition, it is really magical for the students to be able to see and hear their music at every stage of its production in a fully professional format. Sibelius helps build a sense of professionalism right from the start. A sense of pride and confidence in one's own musical utterance is invaluable in building musical creativity."

Måns Tengnér, Principal of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden:

"By switching to Sibelius, we have been able to make teaching of music notation so much more effective. From the start of the course we can put focus on what it's really all about - the actual musical expression."

Prof. Mag. Herbert Ortmayr at the Musikgymnasium in Vienna:

"Sibelius is of enormous value for preparing and holding lessons and students cope with Sibelius much faster than with any other notation software. It takes just a half hour 'crash-course' and they are ready to produce remarkable results. That motivates them to continue on their own and to explore the possibilities of the software."

Jochen Arp at the Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium in Hamburg:

"Ever since I began teaching at the school I have written all of their arrangements using Sibelius, probably around 150 pieces! I would never have been able to achieve this without Sibelius. It took me a very short time to master the software - with other programs I needed several weeks to learn; with Sibelius I began working after just one afternoon."

Jeremy Silver, CEO of Sibelius Software Ltd adds…

"We're thrilled to be associated with such high-ranking establishments around the world and we greatly value their opinions. In our view, conservatoires are choosing the best software in order to help them develop the best musicians and composers."

"It is clear that Sibelius has become indispensable to music education on a worldwide scale. We believe that this success is largely due to the fact that when developing our software, we take the time to consult our users very carefully and we collaborate with a wide range of experts from around the world to present a substantial body of educational content. Thanks to the interactive nature of Sibelius, students are taught vocational skills that are vital in giving them a competitive edge and helping them to succeed in the music business."

Music Conservatoires using Sibelius (by country):

UK

Royal Academy of Music

Trinity College of Music

Royal College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

Leeds College of Music

Birmingham Conservatoire

Welsh College of Music and Drama

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

Australia

Sydney University

Austria

University of Music and Performing Arts Graz

University Mozarteum Salzburg

Belgium

The Royal Conservatoire, Gent

Lemmens Institute plus other conservatoires

Czech Rep

University of Masaryk Brno

University of Palacky Olomouc

Academy of Music Prague

Conservatory Prague

Conservatory Ceske Budejovice

Denmark

Royal Conservatoire of Copenhagen

Finland

Sibelius Academy

Germany

Koln University

Freiberg University

Musikhochschule Frankfurt

Universität der Künste, Berlin

Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler, Berlin

Hungary

Liszt Academy for Music

Iceland

Iceland Academy of the Arts

Ireland

Cork School of Music

Italy

Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia

Netherlands

Various conservatoires

New Zealand

Nelson School of Music

Otago University

Canterbury University

Auckland University

Massey University

Norway

Norwegian Academy of Music

Singapore

Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts

South Africa

Drakensberg Boys

Pretoria University

Sweden

Royal School of Music

Switzerland

Swiss Jazz School

USA

The Juilliard School of Music

Berklee College of Music