Postcard from Bishkek

Last week I was invited to a concert which was to take place in the Concert Hall in the Kyrgyz National Conservatory.  Now, I must admit to a certain amount of confusion here, in that I thought it was to be held in the Shubin Music School and it was only as I was getting ready to leave for the concert that I looked at the invitation and saw that the address was on it was somewhat different to what I was expecting and I didn’t recognize the name of the street, (Jantosheva), at all.

So I got out a Bishkek city map and searched for it.  It’s actually quite a way out of the actual city center, and I was going to need a bit longer to get there than I had anticipated.  Fortunately, however, I was running early and although I have never been to the conservatory before, we found it quite easily and I had plenty of time to go in and take a seat.

I was quite impressed by the building.  It’s modern and some considerable size.  It was in good condition but that could be because it has been undergoing some renovations and has only recently, in the last month, opened its doors once more.  Indeed, this must have been one of the first concerts in the newly refurbished hall.

Although Kyrgyzstan has a fairly well established system of music schools, the Conservatory is a relatively new institution, having been established only in 1993, shortly after the country gained its independence.  It was the first specialist musical institution of higher education in the country, although there was already a composers’ school and a rich tradition of music, both popular and professional.

The conservatory is not just an educational institution and a concert hall, it has [proven to be an incubator of all sorts of music: Traditional music using the instruments of the nomadic Kyrgyz culture and an Orchestra of Kyrgyz Popular instruments being established in 2009; Classical music, with students and graduates founding the Chui Chamber Orchestra as early as 1994 and a Grand Symphonic Orchestra being founded in 2005; A Brass Orchestra, founded in 2000; and even Jazz, with the renowned group “Salt Peanuts”.

As an educational institute, it operates four separate faculties and fourteen departments.  They often hold conferences, seminars and symposiums and have established links with a number of institutions abroad; for example in Cologne, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Warsaw.

Teachers and Graduates of the conservatory are actively involved in music in many different working as professionals – performers, composers, teachers, and have included over 250 prizewinners in international competitions.   Students come from all over the Republic, but also from abroad, including students from, doe example: Russia and Kazakhstan, China and South Korea.

The Conservatory also has a filial branch in the south of Kyrgyzstan, which was originally established in Djala Abad in 2000 but which moved to Osh in 2003.

Tags: For_the_Record, Kyrgyzstan, Organizations