Kazan Conservatory named after Zhiganov is the leading musical university in Tatarstan. Here are preparing future teachers, talented musicians, conductors, art historians. Over 70 years, KGC has trained 7,000 specialists, 90% of whom successfully work in their specialty. Today, about 650 students study at eight faculties.
Creature
The Kazan State Conservatory was created in 1945, which was not easy for the USSR. Initially, classrooms were housed in an old building (now the third academic building) - house 31 on Pushkin Street was built in 1914. The two-story building with a basement is designed in a classic style. In the war, the premises were occupied by the hospital, after the opening of the conservatory, teachers lived and worked here. Until 1965 it was the only building of the educational institution. On the second floor there is a historical hall where all the concerts took place. In 2013, the hall was named after Rachmaninov.
The first rector was Nazib Zhiganov. After moving to Kazan from Kazakhstan in 1928, he studied at the city musical college, from where he transferred to the Moscow State Theater. Tchaikovsky. Nazib Gayazovich became a key figure in the preservation and development of Tatar music. The first symphony of the master in 1938 was performed at a concert in the nascent Tatar State Philharmonic Society. A year later, his opera Kachkyn (which was the thesis at the end of the Moscow Conservatory) actually became the first big production in the Tatar Opera and Ballet Theater. The maestro gave an impetus to the development of modern musical life in Tatarstan. In 1944, Zhiganov petitioned for the establishment of a national conservatory in Kazan. Despite the war, the authorities granted his request. The first 50 students began their studies on September 10, 1945. Nazib Gayazovich’s rectorship lasted more than forty years.
Now KGK is located in four buildings, which are simultaneously architectural monuments. The most beautiful building is No. 1, built in 1912 as the House of the Nobility, according to the design of Aleshkevich. From 1922 to 1961, the regional committee of the CPSU of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was located here .
Education
In 2007, the Kazan Conservatory received the accreditation status of the academy, which implies the expansion of educational programs. Here practically all types of musical art are trained: organ, piano, conducting, strings, percussion, winds, singing, ethnomusicology, ballet pedagogy, musicology, composition. The opening of a new specialty is expected - "musical sound engineering".
Additionally, the walls of the conservatory deeply study the national music of Tatars, Bashkirs, Udmurts and other peoples. Students and teachers collect, decipher, and carefully document folklore. The most interesting works are performed by the Tatar music orchestra.
Now 625 students are studying at the university in 20 departments, many students from abroad. They are trained by about 200 teachers, including 11 doctors of sciences, 32 candidates, 40 professors and 50 associate professors. Every year, more than a third of graduates graduate from KGC with honors. The prestige of the educational institution is evidenced by a fairly high competition - more than 2.5 applicants for a place.
Faculties
The Kazan Conservatory organizes studies at 8 faculties:
- folk instruments;
- conductor and choral;
- piano
- orchestral;
- vocal art;
- theoretical and composer;
- Tatar musical art;
- additional vocational education.
Inter-faculty departments also operate:
- intercultural communications and foreign languages;
- Piano
- chamber ensemble;
- theories of performing arts;
- humanities.
Historical mission
Kazan Conservatory for the Middle Volga is of great importance. Here, people trained (and are preparing) cadres oriented on traditional music of the peoples of Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Bashkiria, Mari El, Mordovia, Chuvashia. The first composers studied here - the authors of national operas and ballets of the republics of Prikamye and Volga. The work of the university allowed to preserve and enhance the musical heritage of the indigenous peoples of central Russia.
The origins of the KGC and distinctive performing schools are outstanding teachers invited by Nazib Zhiganov to Kazan from the Moscow conservatories. Among them are the composer A.S. Leman, the performers N.G. Zuevich, A.E. Gerontiev, the pianist V.G. Apresov, the conductor S.A. Kazachkov, the cellist A.V. Brown, the violinist N.V. Braude , musicologists G.V. Vinogradov, Ya. M. Girshman and others. Since 1988, the conservatory has been headed by Rubin Abdullin.
Here, the mastery of world-famous composers and musicians Vladimir Vasiliev, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mikhail Pletnev, Oleg Lundstrem, pianists Yuri Egorov and Mikhail Pletnev was born. It is no coincidence that the Kazan piano school in Russia is one of the most respected.
Development
The Kazan Conservatory continues to develop, infrastructure is being improved, new buildings are being built and historical buildings are being reconstructed. The construction of the Kazan concert hall in 1996 became a landmark cultural event against the backdrop of the tendencies of those years to curtail state social programs. The magnificent hall, which became an important landmark of Kazan, was erected on the backbone of the modest assembly hall of the conservatory, which for many decades has been the heart of the city’s concert life.
In 2010, the main building was renovated at a high level, which cost 260 million rubles.
Innovation
The Kazan Conservatory of Music has become a platform for an experimental search for new creative directions and forms of training composers, singers, musicologists, and highly qualified musicians. An example is the faculty of Tatar musical art, which was opened in the late 90s. It studies the features of traditional Tatar musical culture, conducts interesting studies that allow you to recreate ancient oriental instruments that have disappeared earlier from musical life. The Tatar music orchestra created at the faculty under the direction of Rinat Khalitov already became the winner of two competitions.
Achievements
Musical universities of Russia are famous for their graduates, who later became world-famous stars. The main conservatory of Tatarstan also revealed to the world a galaxy of outstanding composers, musicians, art historians, and conductors. In 1977, KGZ was recognized as the best university of art at the “Window to Russia” creative competition. Over the past 5 years, more than 600 students and teachers have become laureates of competitions at the international and national levels.
Creative partners of the KGC are the Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris Conservatoires, the International Union of Musical Figures, the Royal Academy of London , the Lübeck School of Music, the French Music Center, the Goethe Institute, the Speyer Institute of Church Music, the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, the Composer Publishing House and others .
Way to the future
There is no corner in the walls of the conservatory where it would be quiet. Music pours not only from the classrooms. Students incriminate their free time to learn a new composition, repeat what they have learned, and polish performing skills. Teachers are loyal to "musical noise", even if it sometimes interferes with the conduct of classes. The principle of self-education is widely practiced here. The KGC has an excellent library, which during school hours is filled with applicants preparing for classes and seminars.
Students are responsible for their education. They know why they came to the conservatory. They understand that the highest level of training in one of the most prestigious music universities in the country will allow performing in the best bands in the world, playing at famous concert venues. In the end, become talented teachers ourselves and raise a new generation of composers, singers and musicians.