GITIS
Encyclopedia
The Russian University of Theatre Arts was founded on 22 September 1878 as the Shestakovsky Music School, became the Musico-Dramatic School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society in 1883, and was elevated to the status of a conservatory in 1886. Known as the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS) from 1934 to 1991, it is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia and is located in Moscow.

Mission and background

GITIS trains students in various professions in the theatrical arts (including ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

, acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

, etc.) and simultaneously provides a traditional university education in liberal arts and humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

. Approximately 1500 students, qualification-advancement students, and post-graduate students from various countries study at GITIS.

Nineteenth century

The Academy was founded as the Shestakovskiy Music School for Coming People in Moscow at the end of the 19th century, patronized by the Society of Musical and Dramatic Arts Lovers. In 1883 the Society was renamed the Moscow Philharmonic Society and the school obtained the status of Musical-Drama Specialized School subordinated by the Society. They were under the patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...

 of Grand Duke Nikolai. Subsequently the School has been equal in the rights to higher educational institutions - conservatories that has been fixed by the new charter approved by Emperor under the petition of Great Princess Elizabeth Fedorovna.

Drama classes of the musical-drama school were headed by well known actors, teachers and theatrical figures such as Alexander Yuzhin
Alexander Yuzhin
Alexander Ivanovich Yuzhin was a stage name of the Georgian Prince Sumbatov , who dominated the Malyi Theatre of Moscow at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was best known for the Romantical parts in the dramas by Schiller and Victor Hugo but also penned a number of plays himself...

 (1883–1889), Osyp Pravdin (1889–1891) and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was a Georgian-born Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, playwright, producer and theatre organizer, who founded the Moscow Art Theatre with his colleague, Konstantin Stanislavsky, in 1898.-Biography:Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was born...

 (1891–1901). The 1898 class graduates included Olga Knipper
Olga Knipper
Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova was a Russian stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov.Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it was formed by Constantin Stanislavski in 1898...

, Margarita Savitskaya, and Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...

.

Twentieth century

In 1902, the school moved into the antique Soldatenkov Family building at Maly Kislovsky, where it has been located since. On 24 October 1903 "The Charter of Musical-Drama School of the Moscow Philharmonic Society under the protection of Her Imperial Highness Princess Elisaveta Fedorovna" was approved. According to the Charter, the School was a department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The acclaimed masters of Russian Musical culture as Rodolph Erlikh, Serge Koussevitsky and Erdely taught at the school. The graduates of the school at that time were composer Vasily Kalinnikov
Vasily Kalinnikov
Vasily Sergeyevich Kalinnikov was a Russian composer of two symphonies, several additional orchestral works and numerous songs, all of them imbued with characteristics of folksong...

 and a great Russian opera singer Leonid Sobinov
Leonid Sobinov
Leonid Vitalyevich Sobinov , was an acclaimed Imperial Russian operatic tenor. His fame continued unabated into the Soviet era, and he was made a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1923...

. The tradition of drama classes to finish training by performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...

 was also acquired by musical classes where opera performances were staged, and also programs of a student's symphonic orchestra. Skill of young musicians has allowed to act accompanied by this orchestra of Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...

, to Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...

, Leonid Sobinov, Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Chaliapin
Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin was a Russian opera singer. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he enjoyed an important international career at major opera houses and is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.During the first phase...

, Anton Arensky
Anton Arensky
Anton Stepanovich Arensky -Biography:Arensky was born in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine...

, and others.

Since the Revolution in Russia
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

 of 1917, the Musical-Drama School has undergone a number of reorganization and changes of names caused by reforms in the state education system.

In August 1922, the school was renamed the State Institute of Musical Drama and was joined with Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...

's State Theatrical Workshops. This association received the name of State Institute of Theatrical Art – GITIS. The official date of its formation was 17th September 1922. According to the original plan GITIS was meant to unite three major branches of theatrical arts: drama, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

.

In June 1923, the State Practical Institute of Choreography joined GITIS as a separate department and the plan was achieved. Three departments were organized: drama( A. Petrovsky - dean), opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 (Konstantin Saradzhev
Konstantin Saradzhev
Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music, and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian...

 - dean ) and choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 (N. Rakhmanov - dean). In 1924, the existing theatrical institutes of Moscow and St.Petersburg were closed by Sovnarkom  Edict
Edict
An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism. The Pope and various micronational leaders are currently the only persons who still issue edicts.-Notable edicts:...

  because ... "of failures in the quality of theatrical education," but in spite of this, GITIS was authorized to graduate students in the accelerated manner. Clubs by interests and the club movement actively developed those years, were the main stimulus for the subsequent creation of theatrically instructor classes on the basis of already disbanded GITIS. In 1925 the Central technical school of a theatrical art (CETETIS) an educational institution with the four-year training was created.

In 1926, on the basis of graduates of GITIS and CETETIS theatre, Musical Drama in Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye
Zamoskvorechye District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug in Moscow, Russia. Population: The district contains the eastern half of historical Zamoskvorechye area , and the territories of Zatsepa Street and Paveletsky Rail Terminal south of the Garden Ring...

  has been generated. As a logic end of this process was an opening of directing-pedagogical faculty on September, 15th, 1930. The faculty began to prepare directors, heads of professional theaters, large working clubs, palaces of culture and acting teachers. It was the first-ever experience of vocational training of directors. GITIS today is still the recognized leader in this area.

On 2 August 1931 by decision of Sovnarkom  RSFSR "About reorganization of system of art education in RSFSR", regulated activity of art higher educational institutions has been published. And on 1 October of the same year the theatrical high school was created by Sovnarkom order which has received the name already familiar to all - GITIS. In 1931 for the first time in Europe higher school preparation of experts in the field of the organization of theatrical business has begun - the management faculty which has existed up to 1939. In 1931, the theater critics faculty has been organized with classes of Russian and West-European theater history. Three more years after the second opening GITIS existed as part of Theatrical Combine.

In July 1935 Theatrical Combine again transformed to the State Institute of Theatrical Art with three faculties: production management
Production management
Theatrical production management is a sub-division of stagecraft. The production management team is responsible for realizing the visions of the producer and the director or choreographer within constraints of technical possibility...

 (with three years training), directing (with four years training), acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

  (with four years training). The Faculty of those years in GITIS were such known theatrical figures as Serafima Birman, Leonid Baratov
Leonid Baratov
Leonid Vasilyeevich Baratov was a Soviet opera director and People's Artist of the RSFSR ....

, Boris Mordvinov, E. Saricheva, B. Sushkevich, N. Zbrueva, Leonid Leonidov
Leonid Leonidov
-Biography:Born in a Jewish family in Odessa , he worked in the Moscow Art Theatre from 1903. His roles included Dmitri Karamazov, Othello, Lopakhin. In 1920s and 1930s he also appeared in several films...

 , Mickhail Tarkhanov (Moskvin), Vasily Sakhnovsky, Olga Pyzhova, Boris Bibikov, Olga Androvskaya, Yosif Raevsky, Vasily Orlov, Andrey Lobanov, Mikhail Astangov
Mikhail Astangov
Mikhail Fyodorovich Astangov , pseudonym of M.F. Ruzhnikov was a Soviet actor, and an acclaimed People's Artist of the USSR .-Selected filmography:* Minin and Pozharsky * Suvorov * The Murderers are Coming...

, Ilya Sudakov, Yury Zavadsky.

World War Two

After the beginning of Second World War in September - October 1941 the education process in GITIS has been temporarily stopped. GITIS students were evacuated from Moscow to Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...

  on 23 October.
The GITIS Front Theater was organized out of acting and directing faculties graduates in the summer of 1942 in Saratov. It made its contribution to a movement of front theaters in Second World War. For one thousand four hundred eighteen days of war the theater has given more than one thousand and five hundred performances.
Many GITIS graduates, students and teachers were fighting at several fronts. Many of them had been honored with a highest military awards, including a Hero of the USSR, which N.Kachuevskaya was honored post-mortem.

Post-war years

In post-war years GITIS is widely growing. Few new faculties were organized. On August, 5th, 1946 the directing faculty stepped forward with the new initiative, to open at faculty three branches: opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, directing and ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

. The opera branch has been transformed all over again to branch of musical theater directing. Then the faculty of musical theater has been created .

In 1946 faculty of a choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 has been created. Since 1958 GITIS Educational Theater was opened. GITIS Theater  well known for many theater productions and playing the major role in preparation of students for all theatrical specialties. In 1964, the directing faculty begun to prepare a variety show directors and in 1973 the variety directing faculty was organized. The founder and a head of the faculty was Igor Sharoev. In 1975, the faculty of a circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 art is created. In 1974 has found the second life the producer's faculty, set as to itself the purpose formation of highly skilled managers of a wide structure, not only for theaters but also for TV, show business, cinema and circus. In 1992 the faculty of scenography
Scenography
-Usage:Whilst also aligned with the professional practice of the scenographer, it is important to distinguish the individual elements that comprise the 'design' of a performance event from the term 'scenography' which is as an artistic perspective concerning the visual, experiential and spatial...

 was opened.

In 1991, the status of academy
Academy
An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...

 has been given to GITIS , and Institute has been renamed into the Russian Academy of Theater Arts – GITIS. Traditions of Academy is in continuity.

Twenty-first century

Today the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS) is integrated into world system of theatrical education. Its partners are theatrical schools of the Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

  (Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...

, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

  in London, Theatrical school in Guildford), France (the National Conservatory of Drama Art
CNSAD
The Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique is France's national drama academy in Paris...

  in Paris, the Higher National School of Theatrical Art in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

s), Holland (Theatrical academy in Amsterdam
Amsterdamse Toneelschool & Kleinkunstacademie
The Theaterschool is a theater school in Amsterdam, and a division of the Amsterdam School of the Arts.It is runs four year Bachelor's degree courses, intended for new stage, film, cabaret and musical actors...

), Germany (the International Theatrical Center in Berlin), Israel (Theatrical school Beit-Tsvi), Italy (Silvio De Amiko Academy of Drama Art in Rome), USA (Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

) and more.

There are 8 faculties at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS). At each faculty there are department(s) corresponding to the specialisation of students’ training. Besides, there are 9 inter-faculty departments to provide students with all-round education in the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

 and the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

.Upon a completion of the full-time Graduate Course at a chosen faculty the student receives a diploma of the higher education at Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) with a Magister’s qualification in the applicable specialty in the Arts.

The main principle "student-teacher-student" is the major in selection of the pedagogical staff, therefore many teachers of Academy today are graduates of the GITIS.

alumni

  • Pyotr Fomenko - theatre director
  • Anatoly Efros
    Anatoly Efros
    -Children's Theatre and the Lenkom:Efros was born in Kharkov. In 1954, he was appointed to run the Central Theatre for Children in Moscow and managed to transform it from a conservative backwater into one of the most fashionable Soviet theatres....

     - theatre director
  • Anatoly Vasiliev
    Anatoly Vasiliev
    Anatoly Vasiliev is a noted Russian theatre director and one of the leading European contemporary stage directors. He is artistic director of the Moscow Theatre "School of Dramatic Arts", Théâtre de l'Europe, and professor of drama in Lyon, France.-Early years:Vasiliev was born in the Soviet Union...

     - theatre director
  • Jerzy Grotowski
    Jerzy Grotowski
    Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts....

     - theatre director, theorist
  • Georgy Tovstonogov
    Georgy Tovstonogov
    Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov was a Russian theatre director, the leader of Saint Petersburg Bolshoi Academic Theatre of Drama , which now bears his name.-Biography:...

     - theatre director
  • Eimuntas Nekrošius
    Eimuntas Nekrošius
    Eimuntas Nekrošius is one of the most renowned theatre directors in Lithuania.- Career :...

     - theatre director
  • Tatiana Samoilova - actress
  • Andrey Zvyagintsev
    Andrey Zvyagintsev
    Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev is a Russian film director and actor. He is mostly known for his 2003 film The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.-Biography:...

     – actor and film director
  • Alim Kouliev
    Alim Kouliev
    Alim Kaisynovich Kouliev is a Russian-American actor and director. Kouliev was born in Nalchik — a small city in USSR. His father was the Balkar poet Kaisyn Kuliev. His elder brother Eldar Kuliev is a Russian film director and a screenwriter, living in Moscow. His younger brother Azamat Kuliev...

     - actor and theatre director
  • Chulpan Khamatova
    Chulpan Khamatova
    Chulpan Nailevna Khamatova is a Russian film, theater and TV actress of Tatar origin. Her name, Chulpan, means "morning star" in Tatar.- Background :...

     – actress
  • Lev Leshchenko
    Lev Leshchenko
    Lev Valerjanovich Leshchenko , is a renowned Russian singer, who was best known for his rendition of "Den Pobedy" and the 1980 Summer Olympics closing ceremony theme song "Do svidanja, Moskva".-Biography:...

     – actor and singer
  • Simion Ghimpu
    Simion Ghimpu
    -Biography:Simion Ghimpu was born to Irina and Toader Ghimpu on May 24, 1939; he had four siblings: Gheorghe, Visarion, Valentina, and Mihai. Simion Ghimpu graduate from the Moldova State University in 1964 and got a PhD from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts from Moscow in 1969...

     – writer and lyricist
  • Dmitry Bertman
    Dmitry Bertman
    Dmitry Alexandrovitch Bertman is a Russian theatre and opera director and the founder and artistic director of Helikon Opera in Moscow.-Biography:...

     – theatre and opera director
  • Alexandre Marine
    Alexandre Marine
    Alexandre Marine is a Russian-born actor-director-playwright currently based in Montreal.. On April 23, 1993 he was recognized by the Russian government as a Distinguished Artist of the Russian Federation....

    - actor and theatre director

External links


See also

  • A. Smoliakov That exact GITIS. – (М.: Алгоритм-Книга, 2004. – 288 c.) – ISBN 5-9265-0141-5.
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