Istanbul University State Conservatory
The Istanbul University State Conservatory is a public conservatory affiliated with Istanbul University, specializing in music, theatre, and dance, located in Istanbul. It is recognized as the oldest conservatory and the oldest continuously operating music school in Turkey. The university provides music training from secondary school levels up to doctoral studies. Its main building, situated in Kadıköy, is a historical market hall, with the ground floor currently functioning as an active theatre venue.
History
The State Conservatory has its beginnings in its later sister institution, Darülbedayi. In 1914, Cemil Topuzlu embarked on an enterprise to establish the imperial school of drama and music, and French actor André Antoine was invited to Istanbul for this purpose. In its initial structure, Darülbedayi would teach performing arts and stage music, as well as European and Turkish music in their respective departments. The institution thus founded, its premises was initially going to be the famous Letafet Apartmanı, a now demolished fin de siècle housing structure. However, with World War I breaking out before its inauguration ceremony, the institution would go on an indefinite hiatus and was shut down entirely by 1916.Plans were made to revitalise the institution and establish a new and independent music school. They would materialise in New Year's Day 1917 as the Darülelhan, a four-year academy that focused mainly on Turkish music.
Following the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Darülelhan would go on a period of restructuring, and would be renamed the Istanbul Conservatory, after the addition of a European-style music department. By the late 1920s, the school was teaching solfège, music theory, harmony, composition, instrumentation and orchestration, music history and instrumental training, among other skills.
In these early years, lectures were given in the wooden townhouse that served as the schoolhouse. Performances by the three-piece chamber orchestra started by Cemal Reşit Rey, a member of the later Turkish Five, would go on to be quite popular.
By the early 1950s, a performing arts department was established, and director Muhsin Ertuğrul began his career at the conservatory as a teacher.
In 1986, the conservatory became a school within Istanbul University.