Conservatory

A Brief History

Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory was established on October 2, 1970 as Istanbul State Conservatory. The school, which took place in the organisation of General Directorate of Fine Arts in the Ministry of Culture until 1982, has the policy of maintaining and spreading the art of music, theatre, opera and ballet, along with the development of the national values in the universal sense. As a consequence of these general policies, the Conservatory tries to nurture the artists of the future generation with high standarts of technical and artistic abilities, as well as establishing a solid cultural background.

Istanbul State Conservatory began to offer education in music and stage arts on November 1, 1971 in the building of Hasan Ali Yücel Primary School in Etiler. During 1971-1972 academic year, the Conservatory accepted 87 students (24 boys, 63 girls) in piano, violin, violoncello, voice and ballet with 14 faculty members in a school which had only 8 classrooms. After having completed its first academic year in those inadequate conditions, the Conservatory moved to Faik Binal Primary School on 18th of July, 1972.

On January 22, 1974, under the directorship of Hamdi Bektaş, Istanbul State Conservatory moved to another building (which is called Istanbul Palace Apartment) in Taksim, Gümüşsuyu. The same year, the educational level began to rise, also with the addition of new fields of study such as:

Department of Music

• Composition and Conducting Program
• Piano-Harp-Guitar Program
• String Instruments Program
• Wind and Percussion Instruments Program

Department of Performing Arts

• Theatre Program
• Opera Program
• Ballet Program
• Modern Dance Program

Department of Musicology

• General Musicology Program
• Ethnomusicology and Folklore Program

On December 1978, under the directorship of Ersin Onay, Istanbul State Conservatory moved to the Agavat Building of Yıldız Palace complex. On June 22, 1982, according to the related law, Istanbul State Conservatory was taken from the structure of the Ministry of Culture and restructured in School of Fine Arts of Mimar Sinan University (former Academy of Fine Arts). Thus, Istanbul State Conservatory began the 1982-1983 academic year as Istanbul State Conservatory of Mimar Sinan University School of Fine Arts. Structural changes of this kind followed each other and the Conservatory was attached to the rectorate of the Mimar Sinan University (MSU) and took the name Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory in 1985-1986 academic year. Finally, because the name of the University changed once more in 2004, the Conservatory’s name has broadened as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory (MSFAU State Conservatory). On the 15th anniversary of its establishment, in fall 1986, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory moved to the Baltacılar Building in the Dolmabahçe Palace complex in Beşiktaş. Today the Conservatory continues the education in the same building and under the structure of three main departments: Department of Music, Department of Performing Arts and Department of Musicology. Currently the education covers part time and full time studies over a huge span of elementary school, high school, undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate degrees.

Activities

The faculty members and students of MSFAU State Conservatory are quite active in the country and abroad. Among these activities, weekly Wednesday Concerts, competitions, concerts by the MSFAU State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Conservatory Festival, Youth Concerts, master classes, seminars and conferences are all coordinated by the Conservatory. Wednesday Concerts is a regular concert series of young students in which they are supposed to gain stage experience, and it forms a platform to exhibit their talents. Conservatory Festival is organised annually in order to celebrate the establishment of the Ankara State Conservatory on May 6th, 1936. It is a week long celebration with the collaboration of all departments of the school.

These regular activities take place in the auditorium of the MSFAU, Atatürk Cultural Center, Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall and other important venues of the city. In addition to these, master classes of visiting professors, stage performances of Ballet, Theatre and Opera Programs, seminars and conferences of Musicology Departments form an important part of the activities of the school. Below there is a list of some important activities that took place in the Conservatory in recent years.

Master classes and seminars of distinguished artists:

Some of the works that the MSFAU State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and Department of Performing Arts has performed recently:

MSFAU State Conservatory has taken an active part in many of the Mediterranean Music Schools’s Meetings which are coordinated by ECUME (Echanges Culturelles en Meditérranée) since 1996, and hosted the 11th meeting in Istanbul between 5-10 November 2001. 15 music schools from 11 Mediterranean countries have attended the meeting with approximately 60 participants including students, professors and directors of the institutions. The Conservatory has already organized more than 6 auditions of OJM (Orchestre Jeunesses Musicales) selections for Turkish students with the collaboration of the OJM organisers.

Since 2001, the Conservatory has successfully participated in several activities of JMM (Jeunesses Musicales de Meditérranée) which are held every November in Corsica, France.

In 2001 the Conservatory was accepted as an active member to the AEC (Association of European Conservatories) by the AEC Council and its membership was approved in the AEC’s General Assembly in Groningen, the Netherlands. MSFAU State Conservatory is the first institution in Turkey to become a member of AEC. Since 2005 the school has been joining to Socrates and Erasmus exchange programs, and currently has bilateral agreements with around 10 distinguished music schools in Europe. In September 2007, within the scope of an IP (Intensive Program) agreement, a group of young musicians and a faculty member have joined to the project named "Moving Music" that was coordinated by Konservatorium Wien, and came together with young musicians from five European music schools in Vienna, finally been part of a very successful concert.