Vano Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire

About Vano Sarajishvili Tbilisi State Conservatoire

The conservatoire is an independent, authorized higher-education institution rather than a department of another university. Georgia’s National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement identifies it as a higher music-education institution delivering bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees. Its legal form, LEPL, denotes a public-law entity, consistent with its status as a state conservatoire. The institution dates its foundation to 1 May 1917. It received state-conservatoire status in 1924 and has carried the name of Georgian singer Vano Sarajishvili since 1947. Its historic main building is listed as a Georgian cultural-heritage monument. This history matters academically because the institution combines European-style conservatoire training with a sustained focus on Georgian musical traditions. The academic environment is small and specialist. A 2024 national authorization review reported 14 higher-education programmes, 438 active students, and 87 full-time academic staff at the time of review. Those figures are useful context but should not be treated as a 2026 headcount. The same review found particular institutional expertise in piano, vocal studies, musicology, and Georgian traditional polyphony. Prospective students should expect a focused performing-arts institution rather than a comprehensive university. Concerts, masterclasses, competitions, conferences, research, and student opera productions form part of its educational setting. The conservatoire also participates in Erasmus+ mobility and, according to the 2024 authorization review, cooperated with music institutions across 38 countries.

For 2026–2027 bachelor’s entry, registration for conservatoire examinations and audition rounds ran from 1 to 14 May 2026, with assessments scheduled for 8–24 June. Master’s registration ran from 21 May to 3 June, followed by examinations or auditions from 6 to 18 July. These dates apply to that admissions cycle and should not be reused for later entry. Bachelor’s applicants must have completed general education. Performing Arts and Composition admission is based on conservatoire examinations or auditions plus Unified National Examination results, except where Georgian regulations permit admission without those national examinations. Music Technology uses a conservatoire written test of musical-hearing ability alongside the applicable national-examination route. Applicants subject to the national examinations must register with both the National Assessment and Examinations Center and the conservatoire. Master’s applicants need a bachelor’s degree and prior higher academic music education. Performing Arts candidates are selected through conservatoire auditions. Composition and Music Technology normally also require the Unified Master’s Examination unless the applicant qualifies for an exempt route. English-taught applicants must document at least CEFR B2 English. Foreign applicants to Georgian-taught programmes must demonstrate at least B1 Georgian through an interview. Required materials vary by discipline but can include identification, a photograph, payment evidence, repertoire or portfolio materials, and prior-education documents. Foreign-language documents must be translated into Georgian and notarized. Applicants should use the detailed programme-specific audition requirements rather than treating the general checklist as complete.

Academic provision is organized through two faculties: Performing Arts, and Composition and Musicology. The official 2026–2027 admissions material lists Georgian-language bachelor’s study in Performing Arts, Jazz Art, Composition, Musicology, and Music Technology. Performing Arts encompasses areas such as keyboard instruments, academic choir conducting, classical singing, strings, winds, and percussion, although the exact instruments open for admission vary by language and year. For 2026–2027, English-language bachelor’s options are narrower: Performing Arts in piano, solo academic singing, violin, or flute, together with Composition and Music Technology. These bachelor’s programmes last four years. English-language master’s study is available in Performing Arts, Composition, and Music Technology; the published performance options include piano, classical singing, violin, viola, flute, and clarinet. These master’s programmes last two years. Georgian-language master’s provision additionally includes Musicology specializations such as music theory, music history, ethnomusicology, and church music. Doctoral study is verified through both the national authorization review and the official 2026–2027 doctoral admissions page. Current doctoral admissions cover Performing Arts, Composition, and Musicological Research, with defined specializations. The published doctoral duration is three years. Training is performance- and research-oriented. Facilities identified by the institution include a 500-seat Grand Hall, a 200-seat Recital Hall, a chamber hall, an Opera Studio, orchestra rehearsal spaces, recording studios, an audio library, a conventional library, and a museum. The 2024 external review specifically recognized student access to the Grand Hall as a strong practice while recommending continued investment in instruments, library resources, and rehearsal-space booking.

Key Highlights

• Public specialist higher-education institution founded in 1917
• Authorized to deliver bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees
• Historic main building is a Georgian cultural-heritage monument
• Erasmus+ supports student and staff mobility

Student Life & Environment

Student experience is closely tied to making and presenting music. The conservatoire hosts concerts, masterclasses, competitions, workshops, conferences, symposia, and student opera performances. Its Grand Hall, Recital Hall, chamber venue, Opera Studio, rehearsal rooms, and recording facilities create opportunities for work to move from lessons and practice into public or recorded performance. Students seeking a conventional multi-faculty campus experience should recognize that this is a compact specialist institution centered on music. The 2024 national authorization review found an active Student Government and reported that students participated in institutional review discussions. It also described Erasmus+ exchanges for study, training, research, and masterclasses. These opportunities can add an international dimension, but availability, funding, and partner fit should be confirmed for the relevant year and discipline. The official scholarship page lists awards based on academic performance, named conservatoire scholarships, and scholarships founded by musicians. Eligibility and current award values are not published clearly enough in the reviewed material to generalize. The 2026 international fee schedules explicitly state that scholarships and institutional funding are unavailable to international students. No current official housing or residence information was found. Applicants should therefore ask the conservatoire directly about accommodation guidance, accessibility, health provision, and student-support capacity before committing.

Location & Surroundings

The conservatoire’s main address is 8–10 Griboedov Street, postal code 0108, in Tbilisi. This places students in Georgia’s capital and embeds the institution within the city’s cultural life rather than on a separate residential campus. The historic conservatoire building itself is a protected cultural-heritage monument, and its principal concert spaces serve both educational and public performance functions. For music students, the central-city setting can be valuable because academic work, rehearsals, concerts, and professional cultural activity occur in the same urban environment. The conservatoire describes itself as an important venue in Georgia’s concert life, but applicants should assess everyday practicalities independently, including travel time, instrument transport, rehearsal access outside scheduled hours, and private accommodation costs. No current official residence-hall offer or institution-specific living-cost budget was located in the reviewed sources. International students should not assume that tuition includes housing, meals, insurance, immigration expenses, or local transportation. They should request current accommodation guidance from the International Relations Department and build a separate Tbilisi living-cost plan before accepting an offer.

Costs & Career Outcomes

The clearest published 2026 costs apply to foreign citizens in English-language bachelor’s and master’s programmes and are quoted in euros, not the database record’s GEL currency. Annual bachelor’s charges range from €3,475 for Music Technology to €6,636 for solo academic singing. Published examples include €4,115 for Composition and €4,721 for piano. Annual master’s charges range from €2,827 for Composition to €5,701 for strings, with other listed performance and technology rates between those amounts. The fee sheets describe these figures as including a 20% increase and state that scholarships and institutional funding are not available to international students. Applicants entering through Unified National Examinations pay a 50 GEL participation fee for bachelor’s auditions; applicants using the route without those examinations pay €50 or its GEL equivalent. The master’s page similarly distinguishes a 50 GEL fee for Unified Master’s Examination applicants from €50 for applicants using the non-examination route. Tuition, audition fees, and living expenses should be budgeted separately. No verified 2026 housing, meals, insurance, or total cost-of-attendance figure was published. Career preparation is primarily embedded in performance, composition, technology, research, and public artistic activity. Students can gain experience through concerts, opera productions, competitions, conferences, recordings, and international mobility. However, no current official placement rate, salary data, or employer outcomes were found. The 2024 authorization panel recommended strengthening career services with more support for CVs, applications, and interviews, so applicants should ask what career programming is operating in 2026 and how it serves their discipline.