The Shanghai Conservatory of Music () was founded on November 27, 1927, as the first music institution of higher education in China. Its teachers and students have won awards at home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name "the cradle of musicians." It is a Chinese state Double First Class University. As of 2021, Shanghai Conservatory of Music ranked no.4 nationwide among universities specialized in Arts in the recognized

Best Chinese Universities Ranking The Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR) is a ranking table of Chinese institutions of higher education. It is compiled by Shanghai Ruanke, the same agency that is behind the Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking o ...

and ranked the best in China in the "Music and Dance" subject .

History

The Shanghai Conservatory of Music is a music institute famous at home and abroad. It grew out of the National Conservatory of Music, which was established by

Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...

on November 27, 1927. Dr. Xiao Youmei (Shio Yiu-mei) was the director of the new school and curriculum. His teachings were based on the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, where he graduated. It was one of the first institutions of higher learning of modern music in China. It was considered the premiere institution for Western music learning. Professors came from as far as

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Several of the original professors were recruited from Russian emigres who had fled the Russian civil war (1918-1922) to China. It was renamed several times: National Training School of Music (1929), Branch of National Conservatory of Music (1943), Shanghai National Training School of Music (1945), Shanghai and Huadong Branches of Chinese Conservatory of Music (early 1950s). It received its current name in 1956.

Programs

The Shanghai Conservatory of Music consists of 13 departments. It involves six disciplines and 23 sub-disciplines, some traditional, the others newly developed. The conservatory supports a high-level music research institute, a specialized music library with a large collection, a first-class museum of Asian instruments, and a unique music publishing house. A six-year secondary school and a three-year elementary section were established in 1953 and 1956 to prepare better candidates for tertiary education, thus forming a self-contained system with a complete curriculum of music and academic education. Three art centers integrate teaching, performing and scientific research: Zhou Xiaoyan International Opera Center, International String Academy, and International Piano Art Center. The conservatory has established six performing groups: Symphony Orchestra of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, New Ensemble, String Quartet, Percussion Ensemble, National Music Orchestra and Choir. Shanghai Conservatory of Music maintains close relationships with many first-class conservatories and famous musicians, including collaborations with schools in the US, France, UK, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Germany and Japan. Many internationally well-known musicians such as

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...

, Yuri Shishkin,

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman ( he, פנחס צוקרמן, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zuk ...

Seiji Ozawa Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principa ...

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well ...

, and

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

have served as honorary or guest professors.

Departments

Arts administration The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

Composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary dutie ...

* General Education * Modern Instruments and

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

al *

Music Education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origin ...

* Music Engineering *

Musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

* Orchestral Instruments *

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Traditional Instruments * Vocal Music and

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

* Secondary Professional Music School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music

Faculty and student body

The conservatory has 50 professors and 120 associate professors. There are approximately 1,200 students.

Notable faculty and alumni

Faculty

Wen Kezheng Wen Kezheng (, 1929–2007) was a Chinese operatic bass and music educator. Known for his rich and deep voice, he has been known as the "Chinese Chaliapin" and dubbed by the domestic classical music community as the "King of Basses". As an educa ...

(1929–2007), former Director of the Vocal Music and Opera Department * Liao Changyong, Vice President of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Director of the Vocal Music and Opera Department (also alumnus) * Zhu Jian'er (1922-2017), Chinese symphonic composer and songwriter * Vladimir Shushlin (1896-1978), Russian vocal teacher * He Luting (1903-1999), alumnus and former conservatory director. The main music hall on campus was later named after him.

Alumni

* Lü Ji - composer of revolutionary music *

Ding Shande Ding Shande (; November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1995) was a Chinese composer, pianist, and music teacher. Biography Ding was born in Kunshan, Jiangsu. He studied music with teachers including Huang Tzu at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. ...

- composer * Wang Jianzhong - composer and pianist *

Min Huifen Min Huifen (; 1945 – 12 May 2014) was a performer of the erhu, a traditional Chinese bowed string instrument, and a composer. She was considered the undisputed master of the instrument, nicknamed the "Queen of Erhu". She composed some of her ...

- erhu musician *

Muhai Tang Muhai Tang (; born 1949 in Shanghai) is a Chinese conductor. He is the youngest son of celebrated Chinese film director Tang Xiaodan and brother of painter and poet Tang Muli. Tang initially learned music with his parents, and later studied ...

- conductor * He Xuntian - composer, professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music * Rui Shi Zhuo - composer *

Jampa Tsering Jampa Tsering (; ) was a Chinese singer and dancer. He is of Tibetan ethnicity. Born in Lhasa in the early 1960s, Jampa Tsering became famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s, releasing an immensely popular album, ''Gnas mchog gi glu dbyangs (So ...

- singer and dancer *

Yang Erche Namu Yang Erche Namu (born August 1966) is a Chinese writer and singer of Mosuo ethnicity. Early life Yang Erche Namu was born in a small village near Lugu Lake, in northern Yunnan province, but left at age thirteen; after arriving in neighbouring Y ...

- writer and singer * Jian Wang - cellist *

Liu Fang Liu Fang 1974) is a Chinese–Canadian musician who is one of the most prominent ''pipa'' players in the world. Described in the media as the "empress of pipa" (''L'actualité''), "divine mediator" (World), "the greatest ambassadress of ...

- pipa musician *

Jiaxin Cheng Jiaxin Cheng ( zh, c=程嘉欣, links=no, born 2 October 1974) is a Chinese-born cellist. Career Cheng graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China, in 1997. She was already giving performances with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra bu ...

- cellist * Du Yun - composer, performer, performance artist *

Yu Di Yu Di (; died 818), courtesy name Yunyuan (允元), formally initially Duke Li of Yan () and later Duke Si of Yan (), was a Chinese diplomat, military general, politician, and warlord during the Tang dynasty. He was a powerful warlord at the end ...

- singer * Cai Chengyu - opera singer *

Yu-Peng Chen Chen Yupeng (; born January 15, 1984), also known by his stage name Chen Zhiyi (), is a Chinese composer and music producer. He is best known for composing the soundtrack of ''Genshin Impact'', an open-world action and role-playing video game by ...

- composer and music producer * Zhou Yi - pipa musician

References

* Shen, Sinyan. ''Chinese Music in the 20th Century (Chinese Music Monograph Series)''. 2001. Chinese Music Society of North America Press. .

External links

Shanghai Conservatory of Music website
(in Chinese)
Shanghai Conservatory of Music website
(in English)

English)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanghai Conservatory of Music Universities and colleges in Shanghai Music schools in China Culture in Shanghai 1927 establishments in China