Odessa Conservatory

(full name, the A. V. Nezhdanova Odessa Conservatory), one of the oldest higher institutions of musical instruction in the USSR. The conservatory was founded in 1913 from the music school of the Russian Music Society; in 1950 it was named in honor of A. V. Nezhdanova.

As of 1974, the Odessa Conservatory had departments of piano theory (with divisions of piano, musicology, and composition), orchestra (with divisions of string, folk, and wind instruments), and voice and chorus (with divisions of vocal instruction and conducting). The conservatory library contains about 130,000 units. During the 1973–74 academic year, about 800 students attended the conservatory. The teaching staff in 1973–74 comprised 140 instructors, including about 40 professors and docents.

Well-known musicians who taught at the conservatory include I. V. Pribik, P. S. Stoliarskii, and V. A. Zolotarev. K. F. Dan’kevich, D. F. Oistrakh, Ia. I. Zak, E. G. Gild’s, E. I. Chavdar, B. A. Rudenko, and G. V. Oleinichenko studied at the conservatory.

Since its founding, the conservatory has trained about 2,500 specialists. More than 50 graduates of the conservatory have been chosen as winners of international and all-Union competitions or have received the title of People’s Artist or Honored Artist.