Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg
The historic building of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov has received permission to put it into operation. One of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg will reopen its doors to students on September 1. At the same time, it is ready to resume its work as a concert venue this summer, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin reported.
“The reconstruction of the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory began back in 2015, but due to the change of several contractors, the building ended up in a state of disrepair. If it were not for the direct order of the President to intervene in this matter, we could simply lose this beautiful historical building. In 2021, the implementation of the project was transferred to the company “Single Customer in the Sphere of Construction”. A team of builders, restorers, and acousticians was able to complete a very large and complex project for the restoration of a cultural heritage site in three years – significantly ahead of the deadlines established by the contract. As of today, permission for commissioning has already been received. The facades and interiors of the building have been returned to their historical appearance. After the reconstruction, the historical building of the first music university in the country is equipped with the most modern technologies for teaching music,” said Marat Khusnullin.
The reconstruction and restoration of the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory was carried out within the framework of the comprehensive state program “Construction”.
“The building of the St. Petersburg Conservatory has a rich history. Here in 1783, Antonio Rinaldi erected the first Stone Theatre in Russia. Fragments of the walls and foundation of the theatre were used by the architect Vladimir Nikolay to build the conservatory building, which was opened in 1896. At different times, such architects as A. Cavos, T. Bardt and Thomas de Thomon worked here. The result of a large-scale restoration was the return of the facades to their historical light beige colour, as a result of the scientific restoration of the house church, the paintings by famous artists of the late 19th century Andrei Ryabushkin and Vasily Belyaev, lost in Soviet times, were returned. Thanks to the construction of new domes made of glass and aircraft-grade aluminium, the usable area of the conservatory increased by 700 sq. m – to 31,864 sq. m,” said Minister of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities Irek Fayzullin.
In the summer of 2025, after the finishing works are fully completed, the staff of the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory will finish preparing the premises for the resumption of the educational process for students, and will finish tuning the historical musical instruments that were returned to the building from the restoration workshops. The mechanism of the German organ from the late 19th century in the Glazunov Small Hall will also be tuned.
“The reconstruction and restoration of the St. Petersburg Conservatory is a unique, incredibly complex project, where we carefully combined the past and the future, strictly following the principles of the Venice Charter – specialists tried to use materials and technologies from the time of the building’s construction as much as possible. We managed to completely restore the sound of instruments that are rare today – harmoniums, which will sound like new again. In total, there are about 1,000 unique exhibits – from grand pianos and paintings by the founders of the conservatory to furniture. All stages of design, construction work and restoration were coordinated with the Committee for the Protection of Monuments of St. Petersburg, in agreement with the Academic Council of the University, the historical decoration in the style of the Renaissance was returned to the interiors of the Great Hall of the Conservatory,” emphasized Karen Oganesyan, General Director of the Unified Customer in Construction.
Rector of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Alexey Vasiliev noted that the renovated building is equipped with first-class technologies that improve the educational process. “The Rubinstein Great Hall for 1,100 people is equipped with variable acoustics technologies, which will allow performing not only opera and symphonic music, but also works of a wide variety of genres, such as jazz, musicals, rock. 40 classrooms of the conservatory are equipped with the latest equipment for recording and playing music, which enables the faculty to actively use digital technologies and modern teaching standards,” he said.
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