In December 2022, the Belarusian State Academy of Music (hereinafter referred to as the Academy) celebrated its 90th anniversary. Founded in 1932, the Academy (until 1992 – the Belarusian State Conservatory named after A.V.Lunacharsky) is a major center of the Belarusian musical performing art, musicology and pedagogy*. In 2000, the Academy was awarded the status of the leading Higher education institution of the national system of education in the field of musical art.
The university comprises four faculties, thirteen departments, and such unique structures as an opera studio, a traditional music cultures room, an educational media lab, etc.
More than half of the research and creative workers of the Academy were awarded honorary titles, more than 70% of them have academic degrees and academic titles. Graduates actively conduct performing and teaching activities in our country, successfully work in countries near and far abroad.
The history of the Academy is inextricably linked with the history of the entire musical culture of Belarus in the 20th century. It was at the Academy that the national school of composers was formed, the founder of which was Professor Vasily Zolotarev, a student of N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov’s class. The first graduates of the composition class were Anatoly Bogatyrev, Petr Podkovyrov, Vasily Efimov, Anatoly Popov, Mikhail Kroshner. The creative activity of composers Nikolai Aladov, Vladimir Olovnikov, Evgeny Glebov, Igor Luchenok, Dmitry Smolsky, Andrei Mdivani, Galina Gorelova, Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, Viktor Voitik, Oleg Khodosko, Vladimir Korolchuk, Vladimir Dorokhin, Nikolai Litvin, Sergei Yankovich and others is connected with the Academy. The best traditions of the Belarusian scene are also reflected in the work of the Academy graduates – composers Eduard Zaritsky, Leonid Zakhlevny, Vladimir Budnik, Valery Ivanov, Yadviga Poplavskaya, Vasily Rainchik, Igor Palivoda, Oleg Eliseenkov, Vladimir Karizna (junior) and others.
The Belarusian performing school has received wide recognition. Among the teachers of the Academy there are well-known Belarusian performers: conductors Aleksandr Anisimov, Mikhail Bersan, Aleksandr Sosnovsky, Maksim Rassokha, Yuri Karavaev, Inessa Bodyako, Tamara Slabodchikova, Andrei Savritsky; pianists Igor Olovnikov, Yuri Gildyuk, Vladimir Nekhaenko, Leonid Yushkevich, Vladimir Doulov, Sergei Mikulik, Natalia Gromova, folk instrument performers Evgeny Gladkov, Veronika Praded, Leonid Chernyak, Valery Zhivalevsky, Evgeny Gridyushko, Nikolai Sevryukov, Aleksandr Shuvalov, Irina Kalenchits, Alexei Daraganov, Lidia Skachko, vocalists Lyudmila Kolos, Natalia Rudneva, Anastasia Moskvina, Nina Sharubina, Petr Ridiger, Nikolai Moiseenko, Mikhail Zhilyuk, Mikhail Zdanevich, Sergei Frankovsky, Elena Shvedova, Elena Bundeleva, Tatiana Tretyak, string players Nikolai Krivosheev, Luchia Lastovka, Regina Krivel, Tatiana Bodneva, wind and percussion instrument performers Vladimir Skorokhodov, Leonid Brichikov, Vladimir Budkevich, Valery Grigoriev, Lyudmila Klindukhova, Vladimir Tarashkevich and many others. The beginning of the work of the Choreography Department at the Academy is associated with the names of Yulia Churko, Valentin Elizariev, Viktor Sarkisyan, Olga Lappo, Nina Dyachenko, Natalia Furman.**
Every year, students of the Academy participate in Republican and International performing competitions, festivals, competitions of scientific works. Many winners of prestigious music competitions receive encouragement from the Special Fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the Support of the Talented Youth, the Special Fund of the President of the Republic of Belarus for the Social Support of Gifted Students, and further join the ranks of the Academy teaching staff. Among them are Marina Rusakova, Elena Ostashkina-Myslivchik, Aleksandr Muzykantov, Natalia Korotina, Olga Makeeva, Ilya Petrov, Tatiana Kim, Yulia Ermolaeva, Maria Deruga (piano), Igor Komar, Lyubov Sytko (composition), Ekaterina Pukst, Polina Chernevskaya (violin), Nikolai Teran (viola), Nikita Petrov (saxophone), Maksim Shkulepa (trumpet), Andrei Mikhalevich (trombone), Aram Beknazaryan (percussion instruments), Vyacheslav Larin, Anna Arlukevich (choral conducting), Anastasia Khrapitskaya, Svetlana Belaya, Ellada Mashinskaya (singing) and others. The active participation of the state in the creative destiny of young musicians helps them to reveal their potential, find an incentive and new prospects for further creative growth.
A significant role in the concert life of the Academy and the Republic is played by art groups: symphony and chamber orchestras, orchestras of Belarusian and Russian folk instruments, orchestra of wind instruments, bayan and accordion orchestra, Neapolitan orchestra, student choir, instrumental ensembles of cymbalists “Lileya”, flutists “Impressions”, saxophones, a string quartet of young teachers of the Academy (BSAM string quartet), an ensemble of folk instruments of the BSAM, which are actively performing. The concert programs of the creative groups of the Academy have received recognition not only in our country, but also abroad.
The Academy is one of the major research centers in the field of the humanities – musicology, folklore, sociology, aesthetics, musical pedagogy. Doctors of Science C.Doulova, V.Yakonyuk, V.Skorokhodov, N.Shimansky, who heads the Council for the Theses Defense, work at the Academy. The Academy organizes research, research and practice and methodology conferences on the problems of music education, performing arts, theory and history of Belarusian and world music, ethnomusicology, including the annual International Research Conference in memory of L.S.Mukharinskaya. Graduates of the Academy have the opportunity to continue their education in the Graduate, Postgraduate and Doctorate Schools. The Academy has a student research and creative society. Scientific works of students of various specialties are honored with awards at International and Republican competitions. A lot of work is being done on the publication of the fundamental research journal “News of the Belarusian State Academy of Music”, scientific papers, thematic collections of articles, teaching aids, music readers and scores, training programs. Since 2005, the journal “News of the Belarusian Academy of Music” and the collection “Scientific Works of the Belarusian State Academy of Music” (in six series) have been included in the list of scientific publications of the Republic of Belarus for publishing the results of thesis research. Since 2018, the Academy staff have prepared 11 monographs, 21 collections of articles, 12 educational and teaching aids, 10 issues of the journal “News of the Belarusian Academy of Music”, 97 musical publications.
In 2011-2021, the Mogilev branch of the Academy operated, on the basis of which the Choral Conducting Department and Instrumental Performance Department worked.
International cooperation in the field of Higher education, science and culture is carried out within the framework of international agreements concluded by the Academy with foreign scientific and educational institutions and organizations.
In recent years, the Academy’s international relations have significantly expanded, and bilateral agreements have been concluded with a number of foreign universities: the Perm State Institute of Culture (Perm, Russian Federation), the State Institute of Art Studies (Moscow, Russian Federation), the M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov State Musical and Pedagogical Institute (Moscow, Russian Federation), the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music (Moscow, Russian Federation), the Dmitri Hvorostovsky Siberian State Institute of Arts (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation), the Moscow State Institute of Music named after A.G. Schnittke” (Moscow, Russian Federation), the state autonomous professional educational institution of the Republic of Buryatia “College of Arts named after P.I. Tchaikovsky” (Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation), Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “East Siberian State Institute of Culture” (Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation), Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation), Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Far Eastern State Institute of Arts” (Vladivostok, Russian Federation), State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education of the Chelyabinsk Region “Magnitogorsk State Conservatory (Academy) named after M.I. Glinka” (Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation), Republican State Institution “Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy” of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan), “Kazakh National Academy of Choreography” (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan), Vietnam National Academy of Music (Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam). In total, there are over 100 conservatories, music academies and other higher education partner institutions, with which the Academy carries out educational and creative projects.
Among the outstanding foreign graduates of the Academy are Candidates of Art History: Professor of the Liaoning Pedagogical Institute Ne Na (PRC), Rector of the Academy of Music of the Zhengzhou University, Associate Professor Sun Weibo (PRC), Vice-Rector of the Institute of Music and Dance at the Guangzhou University, Associate Professor Wang Hongtao (PRC), Associate Professor of the Guangzhou University, International Research Director of the Thailand University “Krirk University”, Associate Professor Gong Li (PRC), Vice-Rector for International Relations and Organization of Concert and Exhibition Activities at the Academy of Arts of the Jiangxing University of Finance and Economics, Professor Li Eryun (PRC). Aziz Madi (Jordan) – Associate Professor of the Department of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, Yarmouk University; Iyad Mohammad (Jordan) – Senior Lecturer, Department of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, Yarmouk University; Bayik Mustafa (Turkey) – Director of the Center of Arts named after Ahmed Adana Saygun (Izmir), Honorary Consul of the Republic of Belarus in Adana; Alvarez Romero Noelya (Mexico) – Associate Research Professor at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas and others.
The Academy is a modern institution of Higher education, in the educational process of which the achievements of information and communication, network and multimedia technologies are used. The Academy has a computer class, most of the Departments are connected to the Internet, and the sound recording laboratory is fitted with modern equipment.
Rough design of the first building of the Conservatory, 1954 (Internatsionalnaya Street 30)
* In 1992, the Belarusian State Conservatory named after A.V. Lunacharsky was renamed as the Belarusian Academy of Music (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of July 30, 1992 No. 465). In 1997, the Belarusian Academy of Music was given a status of the “state” institution (Order on registration of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus of July 30, 1997 No. 432). In 2001, the Belarusian State Academy of Music was registered as an Education Institution “Belarusian State Academy of Music” (Decision of the Minsk City Executive Committee of August 2, 2001 No. 1010).
** The history of the Belarusian State Academy of Music is exhaustively covered in the materials of the third (2002) and twentieth (2012) and thirty-first (2017) editions of the scientific and theoretical journal “News of the Belarusian State Academy of Music”, in the articles and booklets devoted to anniversaries, in a number of publications of the Printing and Publication Department and in funds of the library.
Video presentation “Belarusian State Academy of Music” (Minsk, 2014)
Booklet “Belarusian State Academy of Music” (Minsk, 2014)
Booklet “Belarusian State Academy of Music” (Minsk, 2017)
Booklet “Belarusian State Academy of Music” (Minsk, 2022)
