Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory
Moscow’s State Conservatory was created in 1866 thanks to Prince Nikolai Petrovich Trubetskoi and Nikolai Rubinstai. The latter, a talented pianist, conductor and composer directed the museum until his death in 1881. He was also the piano teacher and students’ conductor.
Many figures of Russian music took the lead of the Conservatory after him. Others taught, like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who was one of the first. Among the famous students of the school we can mention Sergei Rachmaninov and Mstislav Rostropovich.
The contemporary conservatory in classic style was completed in 1901. It consists of three buildings hosting classrooms and three concert halls. Its architect Vasily Zagorsky integrated the original façade with its two-storey half-rotunda and some of the walls of the right wing to the new building.
So as to commemorate the hundred years of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s birth, the conservatory was named after him (in 1940). A sculpture depicting the artist was erected in front of the building in 1954. Every four years the international competition named after him takes place in the conservatory.