Saratov Conservatory

(full name, L. V. Sobinov Saratov Conservatory), one of the oldest Soviet higher educational institutions for music. The conservatory was founded in 1912 as a successor to a music school that had opened in 1895.

Famous musicians who have worked at the conservatory include I. I. Slivinskii and M. L. Presman (piano), G. E. Konius (music theory), S. M. Kozolupov (violoncello), and M. E. Med-vedev and N. I. Speranskii (voice). Students have included Iu. V. Kochurov, K. Ia. Listov, D. M. Tsyganov, S. N. Knush-evitskii, M. Ia. Aleksandrov, and A. N. Dmitriev. From 1924 to 1935 the conservatory functioned as a music technicum. In 1935 it was named after L. V. Sobinov.

After the October Revolution of 1917, teachers at the conservatory included B. K. Radugin, N. M. Tsyganova (piano), V. V. Zaits (violin), L. V. Rostropovich and B. A. Struve (violoncello), A. M. Paskhalova (voice), K. S. Saradzhev, N. A. Shkarovskii (conducting), O. A. Moralev, B. A. Sosnovtsev, and I. A. Tiut’manov (composition and musicology).

As of 1975, the conservatory had a department of theory and composition (musicology and composition divisions) and a department of musical performing arts (divisions for piano, orchestra, choral conducting, choral directing, voice, and folk instruments). There is also a graduate division and a probational assistantship program. The conservatory has 13 subdepartments, a recording studio, and a library.

In the 1974–75 academic year, there were more than 800 students, graduate students, and assistants on probation and 126 teachers. Since its founding, the Saratov Conservatory has trained approximately 3,000 musicians and teachers. Many of its graduates have won prizes and diplomas at international and all-Union competitions.