Iñaki Sandoval named new director of Barcelona's Conservatori del Liceu, replacing Maria Serrat after 27 years

The appointment

Iñaki Sandoval (Pamplona, 1974), a pianist, composer and academic manager, was presented this Wednesday as the future director general of the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona. He will take up the post in December, succeeding Maria Serrat, who is retiring after 27 years leading the institution. The announcement was made at a lunch at the Ca l'Isidre restaurant, attended by the president of the Fundació Conservatori Liceu, Sergi Ferrer-Salat, board members, and the conservatory's academic director.

“When we contacted him we thought he would say no, but from the first moment he was enthusiastic, because for him it's coming home.”

Sandoval is currently dean of the School of Music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, a post he has held since 2022. He will leave that role in January once his commitments end.

“It is an exciting challenge. It is not just any appointment. It is a vital and professional turning point. Returning to the Conservatory is coming home.”

Career path

Sandoval graduated in classical piano from the Conservatori del Liceu in 1998. He later completed a bachelor's and master's at Berklee College of Music and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and earned a doctorate in Musicology and Art History from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Between 2003 and 2015, he served as dean of postgraduate studies at the conservatory and founded its jazz and modern music department, forging an alliance with the Berklee international network. From 2015 to 2021, he was director general of the Viljandi Culture Academy at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

Vision for the conservatory

Sandoval outlined a strategic plan for the next five years built on four pillars: academic innovation, internationalization, sustainability, and closing the gap between the classroom and professional careers. "We must shorten the distance between the academy and professional practice through agreements with auditoriums, theaters, festivals, sector companies and creative industries," he said. He also stressed the importance of integrating artificial intelligence with humanistic training and ensuring the conservatory engages with disadvantaged groups, beginning with the Raval neighborhood.

“My goal is for the Conservatori del Liceu to be one of the great European and global benchmarks of 21st-century musical education, an open, inclusive, multicultural and multidisciplinary space.”

Institutional context

The Fundació Conservatori Liceu was founded in 1837 as the teaching arm linked to the Gran Teatre del Liceu. Today it has around 11,500 students, of whom about 800 are in higher-education-equivalent programs and 700 in intermediate levels. The foundation is a non-profit that emphasizes social integration through music. The appointment comes after the dismissal last November of a professor accused of inappropriate touching, prompting Sandoval to pledge "zero tolerance" and stricter protocols.

“Music is not only aesthetic excellence; it is social cohesion.”