From October 25 to November 3, 2025, the St. Petersburg Conservatory will host the 25th Jubilee International Conservatory Week Festival. A quarter century is a significant milestone in the history of the project that aims at improving professional dialogue and presenting the best achievements of multinational music traditions. The Festival has been bringing together the leading music educational institutions from Russia and abroad, strengthening and developing cultural ties for 25 years. The large-scale project offers various concerts, academic and educational events.
The jubilee season will feature the representatives of twelve higher educational institutions and guests from eight countries: Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Serbia, Hungary, China and Iran, performing at the best concert venues in St. Petersburg.
The Festival concert section includes ten programmes with symphonic, chamber and choral music, as well as jazz and ethno. The Festival special concerts are dedicated to the jubilee composers 2025: Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Sviridov and other renowned composers of the St. Petersburg tradition.
On October 25, the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia will host the opening concert featuring the Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello and orchestra by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the Poem in Memory of Sergei Yesenin by Georgy Sviridov. The famous venue will also host the Solemn Ceremony of Conferment of an Honorary Professorship of the St. Petersburg Conservatory to Sergei Roldugin, People’s Artist of Russia, a prominent cellist and public figure. The musical part of the event will be performed by the Combined Choir of the St. Petersburg and Magnitogorsk Conservatories, the Choir of the St. Petersburg Institute of Culture and the Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, conducted by the Rector, Honoured Artist of Russia Alexei Vasiliev. The solo will be performed by Sergei Roldugin, People’s Artist of Russia.
On October 26, two events will be presented at the Concert Hall of the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella. The afternoon the “Choral and Orchestral Academies” will feature the performances of youth choirs from the St. Petersburg and Magnitogorsk Conservatories.
The Symphony No. 1 by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov will be performed by the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov State Music and Pedagogical Institute, conducted by Yuri Simonov, People’s Artist of the USSR and honorary professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. “The Organ Academies” will continue with the evening part, featuring the performances of three musicians who represent the Moscow Conservatory, the Belgorod State Institute of Arts and Culture and the Vitebsk P. М. Masherov State University (Belarus).
On October 27, the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace will host a ceremony to award the long-term partners and participants of the International Conservatory Week with jubilee medals. The concert programme will feature the Taneyev Quartet, the Concert Brass Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Conservatory Chamber Choir. The event will be hosted by Nikolai Burov, People’s Artist of Russia and honorary professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
On October 28, the Hermitage Theatre will host a concert featuring classical and folk compositions within the CLASSICS – ETHNO – XXI project. The concert will be performed by the representatives of the Jilin University of Arts in China, the Mehrabanan Ensemble from Iran and the Orchestra of Bayan and Accordion Players of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
On October 29, the Evening of Choreographic Premieres will be held on the Hermitage Theatre stage. The Conservatory students and young performers of the Dolgushin Classical Ballet School will present four choreographic novellas that were staged specifically for the Festival to the music of the People’s Artist of Russia Alexander Tchaikovsky and renowned composers from St. Petersburg — Anton Tanonov, Svetlana Nesterova and Svetlana Lavrova. The Chamber Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, conducted by the People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Fakhraddin Kerimov, will participate in the concert as well.
On October 30, the Small Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia will host a concert of masterful performers from Russia, China and Hungary within the Chamber Series.
On October 31, the St. Petersburg State Jazz Philharmonic Hall will host the Festival Jazz concert. The musicians from Armenia, Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra and People’s Artist of Russia, Honorary Professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory David Goloshchekin will perform original compositions and improvisations on Armenian folk melodies and jazz standards.
On November 1, the Festival will culminate at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre with a performance of the Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, led by two maestros: Dejan Savić, a cultural adviser to the President of Serbia, and Alexei Vasiliev, rector of the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Honoured Artist of Russia who will also perform with the renowned Russian cellist Alexander Ramm. The programme features the Dramatic Overture by Vasilije Mokranjac, “Violoncelles, Vibrez” by Giovanni Sollima, arranged for two cellos and a string orchestra, the Symphonic Fantasy “Fatum” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and “The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky.
On November 2, the Concert Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory will host a concert of the winners of “The Step into the Future – 2025” Competition of youth ensembles that is held within the Festival.
The programme of the academic and educational section includes the Russian Academic Conference with international participation, dedicated to the creative lives of the jubilee composers of 2025, the Russian Academic Youth Conference “Musicology: Gradus ad Parnassum” and a documentary exhibition in recognition of the jubilee season of the International Conservatory Week.
The educational seminars on choral and opera-symphony conducting, piano performing and concert mastering will be traditionally held; lectures, presentations, meet-the-artist events and masterclasses will be conducted by renowned musicians from Russia and abroad.
The innovative educational project, the Festival Business Venue will bring together the Youth Ideas Forum “Me — My Own Producer”, the Creative Laboratory on music journalism, supported by the Editor-in-Chief of the “Musical Life” magazine and Professor of the Moscow Conservatory Evgenia Krivitskaya, and the Educational Seminar on concert management and event producing.
The Festival will hold two creative competitions: “The Step into the Future – 2025” and “The Festival Pulse” Competition of reviews, surveys and video essays, which is open to students, interns and graduates of the Conservatory.