Gnesinka's 130th Anniversary will be celebrated throughout the World

Choirs fr om the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music and the China Conservatory of Music will hold concerts in Beijing on November 11th and 12th. This was announced by the Academy’s Rector, Aleksandr Ryzhinski, at a TASS press conference dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the Gnesin’s system of music education.

Rector noted that currently representatives of more than 50 countries are studying at the Gnesinka. Therefore, the anniversary celebrations will extend beyond our country. On October 7th and 8th, presentational concerts of the Gnesin House were held in Paris and Brussels.

«Both Asian and European countries are participating in the anniversary because Gnesinka is, as it’s common to say today, a brand that is recognized worldwide. And it is not by chance that we are ranked so high among the world’s top education institutions by the British agency QS. We hope this will not be revoked due to any events,» the rector added.

People’s Artist of Russia and Gnesin Academy graduate Daniil Kramer will take part in the European concerts. At the press conference, the pianist shared his thoughts on Gnesin education. According to him, what distinguishes Gnesinka from other institutions is the combination of performance with pedagogy, humane teaching (an individual approach), and instilling in students a desire to develop. These and other points were immediately supported by all those present.

«Our teachers were our mothers and fathers. About a third of my lessons took place at the home of Evgeny Liberman. No one counted the hours — everyone was focused on the result,» recalled Daniil Kramer. «The role of Gnesinka, in my opinion, is impossible to overestimate today. Both as a role of soft power and as a role in graduating young people. They become not just professionals; they develop a different socialization, a different attitude towards culture and people. Maybe it’s just a drop in the ocean, but it matters.»

On October 15th, the exhibition «The House Wh ere Music Lives. To the 130th Anniversary of the Gnesin Educational Institutions» opened at the Helikon-Opera Theatre. It features items fr om the Memorial Museum-Apartment of Elena Gnesina: family portraits, letters, posters, photographs, a collection of autographs from the Gnesins’ circle of friends, which included Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Lunacharsky, Modest Tchaikovsky, Knipper-Chekhova, Richter, and Van Cliburn.

On October 28th, the anniversary gala concert «Gnesin Stars» was held at the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music. The event featured ensembles, teachers, students, and graduates of the Gnesin Music College and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. The program included works by Isaac Dunayevsky, Jacques Ibert, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Ludwig van Beethoven. On the same day, the first volume of the encyclopedia of Gnesin educational institutions was presented. The first book titled «We are in Today» is dedicated to the origins of the Gnesin Institute (the Academy).

At the press conference, Honored Artist of Russia and Director of the Gnesin Music College, Valery Grokhovsky, announced that a documentary film is being prepared in honor of the anniversary of the Gnesin education system.

«We decided to focus on the present day, to talk with teachers, most of whom work in secondary vocational education, and to show the difference between their work and the work of a higher education teacher. The film is interesting and quite funny,» explained Valery Grokhovsky.

Anniversary events are also being held at the Moscow Gnesin Special Music School (College). Some of them were described by the school’s director, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Mikhail Khokhlov. For instance, on October 5th, the play «The Ugly Duckling» from a cycle of musical-literary fairy tales, performed by People’s Artist of Russia Yulia Rutberg and the chamber orchestra «Gnesin Virtuosos,» was presented at the Small Hall of the Kremlin Palace. Also, before the end of the year, Orpheus Radio will release a disc with a recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto performed by Boris Berezovsky and the «Gnesin Virtuosos.» The recording was made at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on April 8th.

The celebration program will conclude with a vocal-symphonic concert as part of the All-Russian Choral Forum on December 19th at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, wh ere Georgy Sviridov’s «Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin» will be performed.

«It will unite the forces of our leading higher education institutions: the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Petrozavodsk Conservatories, and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. There will be almost 500 people on stage,» shared Alexander Sergeyevich.

At the conclusion of the press conference, the participants discussed the pressing problems of today, the role of teachers and mentors in the education system, and expressed their hope that the Gnesin traditions will continue to develop under any circumstances:

«Today, we constantly have to defend our right to work with students in the way that the creative process requires. And inspiration, as we know, does not come on a schedule. I eagerly await the day when the most important privilege for the sphere of culture will return to all our country’s regulatory documents — those very parentheses that existed in the Soviet Union: "except for educational organizations in the sphere of culture and arts." It used to be written: "a rule applies to all, except for organizations of culture and arts." Let’s bring back this "except," because this is a strategic sphere for our state,» said Aleksandr Ryzhinskii.