Moscow Conservatory

Bolshoi Hall, the main performance auditorium

The Moscow Conservatory (Russian: Московская Государственная Консерватория им. П.И.Чайковского) is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St. Petersburg Conservatory, it is one of the leading music universities in the country.

It was co-founded in 1866 by Nikolai Rubinstein (brother of the famous Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein, who founded the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1862) and Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Troubetzkoy.

At its opening, Tchaikovsky was appointed professor of theory and harmony, a post he held until approximately 1878. Since 1940, the conservatory has borne Tchaikovsky's name.

Prior to the Revolution the choral faculty of the consevatory was second to the Moscow Synodal School and Moscow Synodal Choir, but in 1919 both were closed and merged into the choral faculty. Some of the students now listed as being of the conservatory, for example Rachmaninoff, were in fact students of the Synodal School.

Some notable alumni

The Moscow Conservatory in 1940

Hamsa Al-Wadi Juris – pianist, teacher Natalya Ageyeva – pianist, Artistic Director Russian Chamber Music Foundation of Seattle Nelly Akopian-Tamarina – pianist Rowena Arrieta – pianist Edward Artemyev – composer Vladimir Ashkenazy – pianist, conductor Gustavo Balanesco - pianist Dmitri Bashkirov – pianist, teacher Yuri Bashmet – violist, conductor Boris Berezovsky – pianist Boris Berman – pianist, teacher Lazar Berman – pianist Alexander Borovsky - pianist Đặng Thái Sơn - pianist Heinrich Neuhaus – pianist Stanislav Neuhaus – pianist Vadim Borisovsky – violist, teacher Anatoliy Brandukov – cellist Alexander Chuhaldin - violinist, conductor, and composer Tish Daija - Albanian composer Bella Davidovich – pianist Nikolai Demidenko – pianist Edison Denisov – composer Youri Egorov - pianist Samuil Feinberg – pianist, composer Yakov Flier – pianist Andrei Gavrilov – pianist Emil Gilels – pianist Marina Goglidze-Mdivani - pianist Alexei Gorokhov – violinist, musicologist, teacher Vera Gornostaeva – pianist and teacher Felix Gottlieb - pianist Eduard Grach – violin Sofia Gubaidulina – composer

Natalia Gutman – cellist Rustem Hayroudinoff – pianist Waleed Howrani – composer and pianist Valentina Igoshina - pianist Dmitry Kabalevsky – composer and pianist Olga Kern – pianist Aram Khachaturian – composer Yuri Kholopov – musicologist, music theorist Vladimir Krainev - pianist Tikhon Khrennikov – composer Leonid Kogan – violinist Josef Lhévinne – pianist Dong-Hyek Lim – pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja – pianist and teacher Alexei Lubimov – pianist Nikolai Lugansky – pianist Radu Lupu – pianist Dmitry Malikov – pianist Yuri Martynov – pianist Victor Merzhanov – pianist Roman Moiseyev – conductor Alexandre Mogilevsky - violinist Alexander Mosolov - pianist and composer Avni Mula - Albanian singer and composer Shoista Mullodzhanova – Shashmaqam singer Viktoria Mullova – violinist Anahit Nersesyan – pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva – pianist Lev Oborin – pianist David Oistrakh – violinist

Aleksandra Pakhmutova – composer Dmitry Paperno – pianist Nikolai Petrov – pianist Gregor Piatigorsky – cellist Mikhail Pletnev – pianist, composer, conductor Ivo Pogorelić – pianist Viktoria Postnikova – pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff - pianist, composer Sviatoslav Richter – pianist Mstislav Rostropovich – cellist and conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky – conductor Alfred Schnittke – composer Rodion Shchedrin – composer and pianist Aleksandr Sokolov – Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Spivakov – violinist, conductor Mykola Suk - pianist Yevgeny Svetlanov – conductor, pianist, composer Viktor Tretiakov – violinist Ibrahim Tukiqi - Albanian singer Mauricio Vallina – pianist Eliso Virsaladze – pianist Mikhail Voskresensky – pianist Çesk Zadeja - Albanian composer

Notable current professors

• Sergei Dorensky – piano
• Andrei Eshpai – composition
• Vera Gornostayeva – piano
• Eduard Grach – violin
• Sergei Kravchenko – violin
• Alexei Lubimov – pianist
• Victor Merzhanov – piano
• Alexei Parshin – organ
• Nikolai Petrov – piano
• Galina Pisarenko – voice
• Elena Richter – piano
• Gennady Rozhdestvensky – conductor
• Yuri Slesarev – piano
• Eliso Virsaladze – piano
• Mikhail Voskresensky – piano
• Irina Zhurina – voice

References

• The Moscow Conservatory. Information Booklet. Second Edition. Moscow, 2001. ISBN 5-89598-111-9.
• Moscow Conservatoire. Moscow, 1994. ISBN 5-86419-006-3.
• Moscow Conservatory: Traditions of Music Education, Art, and Science 1866–2006. Moscow: "Moskovskaya Konservatoriya" Publishing House, 2006.
• Loomis, George (April 18, 2001), "Moscow's Great Hall Turns 100", International Herald Tribune{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

See also

• Saint Petersburg Conservatory

External links

• Moscow Conservatory website (in Russian)
• Moscow Conservatory website (in English)