The Ural Conservatoire

The Ural Conservatoire

The Ural Conservatoire – the oldest musical establishment in the Urals and Siberia – is a creative and scientific centre of the vast area. It participates in a large-scaled concert activity and professional training of musicians (performers, teachers, composers, researches and specialists in educational methods) – who work in different fields of musical culture.

The Ural Conservatoire was founded in 1934 and became the first musical institution to the east of Volga district. It was the high status of Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk since 1924) as the Ural capital and the existence of musical college (set up in 1916) on the Russian Imperial musical society that brought to choose the city the place of the Conservatoire. One of the most beautiful buildings – the stone architectural monument of 1730s and reconstructed in classical style according to M.P. Malakhov’s project in 1830s was allocated to it. In 1967 the Conservatoire received an annex and later an inner court and then appeared the Bolshoy Concert Hall (Big) that was the second to the Maly Concert Hall (Small) named after S. Prokofiev who had performed there in 1935.

In 1939 the Conservatoire was named after M. Mussorgsky to the 100th anniversary of the great Russian composer. Since 1945 the Sverdlovsk Conservatoire owing to its significance in the region was conferred on the status of the Ural one.

At the origins of the Conservatoire there have always been outstanding musicians. European roots of the Ural institution went back to the pre-revolutionary Russia and its staff constituted representatives of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Tbilisi and Moscow musical-dramatical and Sinod colleges as well as the Court Singing Capella. Later on the graduates of the capital institutions arrived according to the obligatory for those years assignment of specialists. The Moscow Conservatoire had a special task to be patron of the young institution and provide its teachers’ staff. The galaxy of those brilliant names appeared to be striking for the distant region! All those musicians became the founders of the performing and creative schools having done honour to the Conservatoire. Among the founders there were composer M. Frolov (the first rector) and V. Trambitsky (founder of musical-theoretical school).

In the year of opening it was announced the admission to the piano, orchestra (string and wind instruments) and vocal departments. In 1935 there were added the departments of composition and musical education, in 1936 – history-theoretic specialty (in 1935 there was established the chair of theory, history of music and composition). In 1939 on the basis of opera class there was formed the chair of opera training. In 1943 – there appeared the chair of choir conducting, just in the year of organizing the choir capella at the Sverdlovsk Philarmonic society and the Ural Folk Choir. The rest of chairs were formed after the war, the latest one being the chair of Musical Sounddirecting (1993).

From the very beginning the Ural Conservatoire was under the patronage of the Moscow Conservatoire and its rector G. Neuhaus, whotaught during two war years and attracted his disciples, such as B. Marantz, S. Benditsky, to teach in the Urals.

Among the Conservatoire graduates are the following musicians – singers B. Shtokolov, Y. Gulyaev, V. Bayeva, I. Semenov, D. Dashiev, N. Golyshev, S. Zaliznyak, V. Odnovenko, E. Voznesenskaya; composers L. Lyadova, E. Rodygyn, N. Puzei, V. Bibergan, N. Morozov, A. Pantykin; conductors P. Gorbunov, V. Yutkin, E. Kolobov, E. Brazhnik, V. Gorelik, D. Volosnikov; choir-masters G. Rogozhnikova, N. Malguinova, N. Groshikova, N. Popovich, V. Zavadsky; pianists S. Lidskaya, K. Korchinskaya, G. Rezhnikov, N. Atlas; string instrumentalists I. Kuznetsova, G. Terya, V. Usminsky, D. Petukhov, V. Klishin, S. Peshkov; folk instrumentalists – V. Romanko, S. Amirov, T. Volskaya, M. Ulyashkin; wind instrumentalists – V. Volkov, V. Fedenko, V. Ivukin, V. Cherkashin, I. Paraschuk; musicologists – E. Maiburova, V. Kostarev, Z. Vizel, M. Muginstein, L. Shaimukhamedova, N. Tarasevich; folklorist T. Kaluzhnikova and many others.

V. Kazenin, also Conservatoire graduate, headed the Composers’ Union of Russia in 1990s. In 2012 V. Kazenin and V. Bibergan became Honorary professors at the Conservatoire.