20 Fenyang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200031, People’s Republic of China

+86 21 6431 0305 (foreign affairs office)

Undergraduate program

Bachelor of Music. Four years. Studies in performance (Western and Chinese instruments and voice, opera), composition, choral, orchestral and opera conducting, repetiteur training, musicology, music theatre, instrument making, music education, digital media art, music technology, arts administration, music therapy.

Graduate program

Master of Arts. In performance, Chinese opera, folk music performance, conducting, electronic music, composition, musicology, ethnomusicology, aesthetics and criticism, music psychology, music education, digital media arts, recording arts, pedagogy, arts administration, instrument making. Doctor of Philosophy.

The Conservatory, established in 1927, is the oldest higher institute of music education in China, with an illustrious group of presidents since its foundation. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Over its history the Conservatory has formed a comprehensive system of teaching, learning, performance and research based on the modern Western art tradition combined with Chinese characteristics. There are twelve departments: composition/conducting, musicology, piano, voice, Chinese traditional instruments, orchestral instruments, folk music, contemporary instruments, music education, music theatre, sound engineering and arts administration, as well as an Institute of Digital Media Arts. The Conservatory supports a music research institute, a fine music library, a vast museum of oriental instruments, a new concert hall with excellent acoustics seating over 800 people and a music publishing house. A scholarly journal 'Art of Music' is published quarterly. On the campus is an instrument manufacturing workshop producing good quality stringed instruments, wind instruments and harps. Some 1400 students study at the Conservatory which is staffed by over 250 faculty members. Foreign students are welcomed. There are active exchange programs with conservatories and music schools in America, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Japan. In 1988 the Zhou Xiaoyan Opera Center was established, co-working with foreign opera houses for productions and master classes. Other organisations include the Oriental Digital Media Art Research and Development Centre, the Modern Music Society, the Oriental Music Society, the Chinese Contemporary Music Center, with its research program into contemporary compositions of Chinese composers, and the Chinese Traditional Folk Music Documents Office. An attached middle school offers general school subjects as well as specialised music training for the gifted, some of whom are primary level students. An associate member of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen.

September 2021