Founded in 1927 as the National Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music is a long-established institution of higher music in China, the cradle of modern and contemporary musicians in China, and a world-renowned conservatory at home and abroad

The predecessor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music was the National Conservatory of Music co-founded on November 27, 1927 by Mr. Cai Yuanpei, a great democratic revolutionary, outstanding educator and thinker, and Dr. Xiao Youmei, a music educator. The first president was Mr. Cai Yuanpei. In September 1929, it was renamed the National College of Music. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was named Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1956. From 1949 to 1984, the famous composer, music theorist and music educator He Luting served as the dean (and later honorary dean) and made outstanding contributions to the construction and development of the school. After 1984, Professors Sang Tong, Jiang Mingdun, Yang Liqing, and Xu Shuya served as deans successively. The current party secretary and dean of the college: Lin Zaiyong.

The college recruits junior college students, master's students, doctoral students, and foreign students from all over the country. The college has 15 departments (departments), namely the Department of Composition, the Department of Conducting, the Department of Musicology, the Department of Ethnic Music, the Department of Piano, the Department of Vocal Music and Opera, the Department of Orchestra, the Department of Music Education, the Department of Music and Drama, the Department of Arts Management, the Department of Music Engineering, the Department of Modern Instrumental Music and Percussion, the Department of Public Foundation, the Department of Graduate Studies, and the School of Digital Media (in preparation). It involves 6 majors (composition and composition technology theory, musicology, music art performance, recording arts, public utilities management, music technology and art), nearly 20 professional directions, including traditional majors with strong roots, as well as a number of new emerging disciplines and interdisciplinary disciplines.

The college has a complete teaching and scientific research system of master's, doctoral and postdoctoral mobile stations that are the first established in China. At present, there are 3 first-level discipline authorization points for doctoral degrees (art theory, music and dance, drama and film and television); 3 first-level disciplines authorized for master's degree (art theory, music and dance, drama and film and television); 1 postdoctoral research station in arts. At present, the college has 2 key disciplines in Shanghai (advantageous disciplines: composition and music design, characteristic disciplines: music culture history), 1 Shanghai Education Highland (music performance), and the E-Institute of Music Anthropology in Shanghai Universities.

The college has three art centers integrating teaching, performance and scientific research, namely Zhou Xiaoyan International Opera Center, International String Art Center, and International Piano Art Center; It has one music research institute, including the Sino-Japanese Music Culture Research Center, the Chinese Contemporary Music Research and Development Center, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music History Research Center, the Musical Theatre Research Center, the Music Education Research Center, and the Music and Society Research Center. It has six music performance groups: Shanghai Youth Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Conservatory of Music New Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Conservatory of Music String Quartet, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Percussion Ensemble, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Chinese Orchestra and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Choir. The Academy also has a distinctive publishing house, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press, a high-level academic journal, Music Art, a unique museum, the Oriental Musical Instrument Museum, and a high-level performance venue, the He Luting Concert Hall.

The college implements a consistent system of "large, medium and small" in the teaching system. In 1953, the High School was formally established, and in 1956, the Attached Primary School was established. Over the past 50 years, the affiliated middle school and the affiliated primary school have formed distinctive teaching characteristics and fine traditions, achieved excellent results in running the school, cultivated a large number of outstanding students who will become well-known musicians at home and abroad in the future, and have become an important training base for reserve talents of our institute and various music colleges and universities across the country.

The college has always attached great importance to the construction of faculty. In the various historical periods of the development of the college, there have always been a number of well-known domestic and even international first-class professors leading various disciplines, such as foreign professors Zakharov, Fuhua, Su Shilin, Qi Erpin in the early days of the establishment of the school, and famous domestic musicians Xiao Youmei, Huang Zi, Zhou Shu'an, Ying Shangneng, He Luting, Ding Shande, etc. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large number of students returned from overseas studies and chose the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as a platform to serve the motherland, in addition to the original group of famous scholars who were active in the front line of teaching as the subject leaders, the college increased the introduction of talents, recruited talents, and absorbed outstanding experts and scholars at home and abroad into the teaching and management positions of the college, laying a solid foundation for the development of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Since its establishment, the college has cultivated talents all over the country and all over the world, including world-class composers, performers, conductors, singers and theorists. There are leading backbones in cultural and artistic institutions and groups; There are business backbones of music academies and research institutions, as well as literary and artistic workers engaged in popularizing music, culture and art. At the same time, the college has made fruitful achievements in teaching, scientific research, creation, discipline construction, etc., reflecting the strong school-running strength of the college. Since the 50s of the 20th century, the teachers and students of our school have won many good results in music competitions at home and abroad, especially since the 80s to the 90s of the 20th century, more than 600 people have won awards in important international and domestic music competitions, among which from 1990 to 1993, the students of the high school affiliated to our school won the first place in international music competitions consecutively, and were awarded the plaque of "winning the first place in international competitions for four consecutive times in three years" by the Ministry of Culture. It is the only music school in the country to receive this honor. From 2007 to 2011, a total of 106 students won 108 international music competition awards, and 530 students won 454 domestic music competition awards. The college is known as the "cradle of musicians".

While maintaining the international advanced level of traditional advantageous disciplines, the college actively expands the development space of new disciplines, creates new growth points for the construction of disciplines and majors, and promotes the improvement of the school-running level of the college. For example, the new undergraduate majors of public service management (with two directions of art management and music electronic information technology management) and music engineering have broken through the traditional mode of music education, and have taken the lead in recruiting students from similar colleges and universities in the country, realizing the cross-border leap in multidisciplinary fields including musicology, engineering, electronics, and management.

The Academy has always maintained close ties with world-class conservatories and musicians. In recent years, our school has established extensive inter-university cooperation with music schools in the United States, Russia, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Spain, Australia, Germany, Japan and other countries and regions. For example, the International Academy of Music (School) Presidents' Forum has been held, world-class experts have been invited to give lectures at the Academy, and many internationally renowned musicians have been invited as honorary professors or visiting professors of the Academy. Among them are famous violinists Stern, Perlman, Leon Felescher, Zuckermann; famous conductors Seiji Ozawa and Simon Rattle; Famous cellists such as Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma have all been appointed as honorary professors or visiting professors in our school. The college has also launched a "contract professor system" for Chinese musicians who have made outstanding achievements on the world music stage (that is, the contracted professors can flexibly choose the teaching time in our school according to their personal circumstances). For example, piano masters Fu Cong and Chen Hongkuan, composers Tan Dun, Qu Xiaosong, Chen Qigang, Sheng Zongliang, Xu Yi, An Chengbi, singers Zhang Jianyi, Tian Haojiang, Liang Ning, Huang Ying, horn player Han Xiaoming, cellist Qin Liwei, conductors Tang Muhai and Yu Long, etc., have all become part-time or distinguished professors signed by the college. In recent years, the school has successfully held a series of foreign academic and cultural exchange activities, such as "Perlman in Shanghai", "International Opera Master Class", "Seiji Ozawa Master Class", "Fu Cong Piano Master Class", "International Clarinet Music Festival", "International Piano Master Class", "Zuckerman Master Class" and "International Electronic Music Week".

At present, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is facing new opportunities for development, and the teachers and students of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music are taking a new look, in accordance with the spirit of Comrade Jiang Zemin's instructions of "running first-class music education and creating an international advanced level", under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, inheriting the fine tradition of running the school, actively forging ahead, overcoming difficulties, meeting challenges, advancing with the times, striving to achieve the goal of building a world-class music academy, making greater contributions to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization, and recasting the new glory of Shanghai Conservatory of Music!