He revised the curriculum, expelled inferior students, fired and demoted many professors, and made entrance and examination requirements more stringent.

The current building was erected in the 1890s on the site of the old Bolshoi Theatre of Saint Petersburg.

School alumni have included such composers as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Artur Kapp, Rudolf Tobias, and Dmitri Shostakovich, who taught at the conservatory during the 1960s.

Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov taught at the conservatory for almost forty years, and his bronze monument is located outside the building in Theatre Square.

The youngest musician ever admitted to the conservatory was four-year-old violinist Clara Rockmore, who later became one of the world's foremost theremin players.