Folk Singing (Bachelor's program) in Gnesins Russian Academy of Music

MEDVEDEVA Marina Vasilevna

Head of the Department

Teaching staff. Training is provided by famous singers, heads of state professional folk song ensembles (the Kuban Cossack Choir and the North Russian Folk Choir) including eight Professors, 11 Associate Professors, two Doctors of Art History, one Doctor of Culturology and three Candidates of Pedagogical Sciences, holders of honorary titles of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, and others. Professor V.G. Zakharchenko is a two-time laureate of the National Award of the Russian Federation, a two-time Hero of Labor of Kuban, a holder of the third and fourth-class medal of the Order of Merit for the Motherland, a holder of the Order of Francisk Skorina.

Facilities and resources. The academy has all the necessary training facilities and resources to ensure high quality of the educational process.

Education. Bachelor students are trained in two majors: Choral Folk Singing and Solo Folk Singing. Maestros of solo folk singing and heads of leading Russian folk choirs share their experience giving master classes. Students undertake their internship in the Kuban Cossack Choir, the North Russian Folk Choir, the Russian Song Folklore Theater, the Russian Folk Choir Orchestra named after M.E. Pyatnitsky, the Academic Choir of Russian Song, the Ryazan Russian Folk Choir named after E.Popov, the Moscow Folklore Cultural Center under the direction of L. Riumina, the YaR – Marka folk group under the direction of V.Deviatov, the National Theater of Folk Music and Song "Golden Ring" with employment opportunities. The department annually organizes the All-Russian festival competition “Vechnye Istoki” (Eternal Origins) and hosts the scientific and practical conference devoted to folk song performance and education. In cooperation with the creative workshop of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation V.K. Nesterov, the department constantly participates in the International festival competition "Let’s dance and sing, Young Russia!" Students perform with the Academic Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments named after N.N. Nekrasov, the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Russia named after N.P. Osipov, the L.G. Zykina State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble “Rossiya,”  and other ensembles.

The alumni of the department are famous People’s Artists of the Russian Federation: N.G. Babkina, A.P. Litvinenko, N.N. Kadysheva, L.G. Riumina, V.S. Deviatov, N.G. Bannova, M.N. Firsov, and many others.

Strategic partners. The academy cooperates with Mongolian State University of Culture and Arts (a major in Solo Folk Singing in Mongolia, Ulan Bator), the Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy (a major in National Instrument, Almaty), Belarusian State Academy of Music, Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov. It regularly holds meet-the-artist events with vocal and instrumental ensembles from Georgia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, New Zealand, and other countries.