Research Centre for Russian Music


Research Centre for Russian Music is a research centre based at Goldsmiths, University of London. The main purpose of the centre is to promote research, publication and performance. It offers interdisciplinary activities focused on cultural, social, political and musical problems of Russian modern history and based on its archival collections. The CRM works in collaboration with the Serge Prokofiev Archive and the Alfred Schnittke Archive which contains manuscripts, facsimiles of all scores, private papers, sketches, photos, films, tapes of Schnittke's own performances and talks, all published scores, books and articles on Schnittke, and all existing recordings of his music.
The CRM works under the supervision of an international board of advisors, including Krzystof Penderecki, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Part, James MacMillan, Oliver Knussen, Irina Schnittke, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Alexander Lazarev. Its current director is the distinguished cellist and musicologist Alexander Ivashkin. The Centre is used by researchers and students from many countries, and makes its materials available to any interested scholar. Current researchers included: Tara Wilson, Elena Artamonova, Rachel Foulds, Alex McIntyre, Magdalini Nikolaidou, Rebecca Turner, Daniel Jaffee, Ondrej Gima, Blanc Wan, Alex Eichenberger and Victoria Zora.

Serge Prokofiev Archive

The Serge Prokofiev Archive is the only archive in the world wholly dedicated to this composer. Established at Goldsmiths College in 1994, the Archive was an initiative of Lina Prokofiev, the composer's first wife, who set up the Serge Prokofiev Foundation, with the objective of furthering the knowledge and study of Prokofiev's life and work. After her death in 1989, the Foundation decided to set up and support an archive where all available materials relating to Prokofiev, including family papers, would be regrouped under one roof.
The Archive was started with the family's private collection of the composer's music manuscripts, private and business papers, correspondence, photos, articles, press cuttings, concert programmes and memorabilia. The Archive's holdings were subsequently increased at various stages with donations from individuals such as Christopher Palmer, publishers Boosey & Hawkes and Peters, Chant du Monde, Hans Sikorski and Kompozitor. EMI, Harmonia Mundi, Philips/Decca, Chandos, Naxos and Warner Classics have substantially contributed to the audio-visual collection. The Archive's prime mission is to make its collection available to a wide public, to provide up-to-date information to scholars and musicians as to the nature and location of extant autographs, and to initiate collaborative projects with its Russian counterparts, and aims to promote greater recognition of Prokofiev's significance.

Alfred Schnittke Archive

The Archive was founded in 1999 and contains facsimile copies of almost every score that Alfred Schnittke completed, many original and unfinished scores, sketches, documentary material relating to premieres/commissions and an extensive collection of secondary sources relating to Schnittke's work.

Special collections

CRM has collaborated with following research and educational institutions: