Students and Professors of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music Perform in Sicily

For the third time, teachers and students of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music have taken part in the «International School of Musical Sciences» organized by the Ettore Majorana Foundation in the city of Erice (Trapani province, Sicily). With the support of the Russian House in Rome, from August 14th to 24th, 2025, the Gnesinka representatives held a series of concerts for local residents and guests of the city, as well as master classes for young musicians from Russia, Italy, China, Japan, and South Korea.

The Rector of the Gnesin Academy, Aleksandr Ryzhinskii, noted: «The format of the International Creative School is very familiar and dear to us. Because musicians get to know and understand each other in a best way nowhere else, but on stage. A meeting on one stage of musicians from different countries is both an exchange of experience and an opportunity to truly get to know each other better. And in our time, this is also a gesture that people of art, despite any temporary difficulties, restrictions, and misunderstandings of the present day, continue to live together for the sake of art. And understanding of that very much unites us.»

This season of the School was dedicated to the instrumental and operatic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. The extensive program featured works by Russian classics Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Medtner, and Glazunov, as well as Italian and European composers. In addition, the Russian House in Rome presented an exhibition by the Russian National Museum of Music, «Puccini on the Russian Stage,» created with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The Director of the Russian House in Rome, Daria Pushkova, said: «The Russian House in Rome brings something new to Erice every year. This time, we presented the public with an exhibition that also tells the story of the friendship and collaboration between Russian opera director Vladimir Alekseev and Giacomo Puccini more than a hundred years ago. This cultural exchange continues to overcome distances and barriers to this day. Over the three years of the School's operation, the number of representatives from Gnesinka has grown from five to twenty-five. I am sure this is a sign that Russian culture cannot simply be excluded from world culture; moreover, it is impossible to move forward without it.»

The Gnesinka artists performed at all concerts held from August 14th to 24th. Two of them were thematic — dedicated to the work of Dmitri Shostakovich and the 130th anniversary of the Gnesin’s system of music education. The performances by the Academy's teachers and students featured works by Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Glazunov, Rubinstein, Mozart, Chopin, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Poulenc, and Piazzolla. The events took place on the stage of the Wigner-San Francesco Institute, as well as on the city's squares. To conclude the School, vocalists from the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music and the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome presented a concert performance of Verdi's opera «La Traviata.»