The President was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Gutsan, and St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov. Comments were provided by Rector of the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory Alexei Vasiliev.
During the visit, Vladimir Putin viewed the information stands detailing the restoration stages and surveyed the renovated premises. One of the halls, the Anton Rubinstein Grand Hall, hosted a concert performed by the Conservatory’s students and teachers. The President attended the performance alongside the participants in the meeting with the heads of international news agencies.
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Opened in 1862, the St Petersburg Conservatory is Russia’s first higher musical school. Its distinguished alumni include Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, and Sergei Prokofiev. The Presidential Executive Order has designated it as one of the especially valuable cultural heritage sites in the Russian Federation.
The Conservatory implements programmes at all levels of professional musical training, from a preschool division to the post-graduate department. Currently, the faculty comprises over 400 teachers, and the student body includes more than 1,000 trainees.
In March 2015, the main building was closed for renovations. This large-scale undertaking was completed in May 2025, with the result that the facades and interiors regained their historical appearance. In addition, the classrooms and concert halls have been equipped with variable acoustics technologies and advanced engineering systems.