"Brazilian music is totally in me": meeting with the new director of the Nice Conservatory

A drummer and a fighter. Clarissa Severo de Borba, the new director of the Pierre-Cochereau regional conservatory of Nice and of artistic education for the City of Nice, will not remain silent. She wants to make noise. To make the school on Avenue de Brancolar, which brings together 1,800 students in music, theater, and dance, and of which she has become conductor, resonate as much as possible. A woman who lives and breathes life. Vibrant. Like some of the captivating and captivating music of Brazil, where she is from. She has just turned 50, but looks 35 at the most. She has set about writing a score combining the popularization of the conservatory at full throttle and fortissimo teamwork. A meeting without a false note.

Clarissa Severo de Borba, who are you, where are you from?

I am a musician, percussionist, composer, and performer. I am Brazilian, I studied music in the United States, and I have lived in France for twenty years, where I came to audition to join an orchestra.

Brazil, land of music, does that sound good to you?

Brazilian music is completely within me. There, it's part of life, of everyday life. My mother is a pianist. I became interested in music at the age of 4. I play all percussion instruments: classical, contemporary, jazz.

What is your background?

In Paris, I was first part of a contemporary ensemble. Then, I was a percussion professor at the Le Mans Conservatory [Sarthe] , which Pierre Cochereau directed from 1949 to 1956 before the one in Nice, from 1961 to 1979. A sign… I was a professor at the regional conservatory of Rennes [Ille-et-Vilaine] then I moved towards management positions to try to shake things up. I was director of the Bagneux Bourg-La-Reine Conservatory [Hauts-de-Seine] , then deputy director of the Paris regional conservatory from 2023 to now.

Why Nice?

Initially, I didn't plan on leaving Paris. Someone close to me told me that certain positions suited my profile. So I applied to Nice, in front of a real recruitment panel.

Your first desire?

Continue everything that works well. Here, the teams are of high quality and ensure the popularization of the conservatory among school children in all neighborhoods. And that is my main goal: to open the conservatory to everyone. We travel to make people want to come to us.

In what way?

I am someone who always works as a team for the benefit of the students. All departments must work hand in hand. We must evolve with pedagogical coherence.

Other perspectives?

Developing international partnerships, conferences on neuroscience and the arts, and everything that will enable tomorrow's excellence, aligning with new national diplomas, and better structuring theater and dance. The idea isn't to become a virtuoso, but to feel good about yourself, to fit into a system that's different from what it was thirty years ago. And with a lot of kindness.

What do you think music can bring?

Learning an artistic discipline allows you to master attention, listening, concentration, and discipline. In fact, music is like an ecosystem that equips you for all social interactions.

Is it reserved for an elite?

Absolutely not! Everyone has the ability to learn music. After all, it's like a musical alphabet accessible even to children, whom we welcome from the age of 5.

Little ones and big ones?

Yes. We have a wonderful partnership with the Côte d'Azur University, whose students we welcome for bachelor's and master's degrees.

A conservatory for learning?

Not only that. You can come to our concerts, our shows. I want our artistic season to be as diverse as possible. A place for artistic creation and its plurality. Openness to world music seems essential to me. It's a form of integration into a conservatory, which is a place of life.