Anton Rubinstein Academy is an educational initiative by musicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis for singers. The project aims to cultivate artists who not only excel in professional creative work, but also in artistic expression across a diverse spectrum of musical and theatrical genres.
Rooted in principles of technical excellence, the Academy focuses on the global cultural context, as well as a comprehensive model of professional development — from vocal skills to language competence and understanding of the profession as a cultural and ethical practice.
This approach to music education is both modern and rooted in tradition. The Academy bears the name of Anton Rubinstein, a musician who was not only one of the founders of Russian performing arts and the initiator of Russia’s first professional conservatory. Rubinstein thought of music as a system of values, he formulated the principles of education that are still relevant, and redefined the ideal of the Russian musician — not as a craftsman, but as an enlightened artist. He has built an institutional environment where the development of such artists, performers, mentors, thinkers and creators of a new cultural context is possible. With the support of the Anton Rubinstein Heritage Centre, musicAeterna continues to develop Anton Rubinstein’s ideas.
In the 2025–2026 season, promising young singers from all over Russia who have passed a multi-stage selection are invited to the Academy — undergraduates of conservatories, recent graduates, and aspiring opera theatre artists. The training programme is gratis and lasts for three years. The Academy’s educational programme includes individual and group classes, participation in musicAeterna concerts and stage productions, master classes with Teodor Currentzis and world’s leading mentors and artists, includes performing, humanitarian, and linguistic disciplines, as well as an extensive course of aesthetic education in music, literature, cinema, philosophy, and art. An individual curriculum will be devised for each singer.
Among the artists of the Academy’s first enrolment there are:
— Diana Nosyreva, a trainee assistant at the St Petersburg State Conservatory, who made her debut with musicAeterna in Last Four Songs by Richard Strauss;
— Sofia Tsygankova, a soloist of the Moscow Helikon Opera Theatre, who performed with musicAeterna on the anniversary tour of Russia, Italy and Spain in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and performed the solo part in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in the concert by the Russian National Youth Orchestra conducted by Teodor Currentzis;
— Yulia Vakula, who performed in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in the Russian part of the tour musicAeterna;
— Iveta Simonyan, a soloist of the opera troupe of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre;
— Ksenia Dorodova, a graduate of the Ural State Conservatory;
— Tatiana Bikmukhametova, a soloist of the Île Thélème Ensemble of Contemporary Music and the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theatre, who performed the role of the First Sibyl in Carl Orff’s opera De temporum fine comoedia at the Diaghilev+ satellite festival in Perm in 2022.
The Anton Rubinstein Heritage Centre was founded in 2024 by Ksenia Svetakova, a descendant of Rubinstein, and the ‘Svet’ Charitable Foundation. The mission of the Centre is to preserve and popularize the legacy of Anton Rubinstein as an outstanding pianist, composer and reformer of musical life. The Centre’s areas of work include scientific research on the life, work, and influence of Anton Rubinstein. Special attention is given to the support of musical institutions that share the values that Rubinstein stood for — striving for enlightenment, artistic freedom, and accessibility of music.