Gala evening celebrating the 80th Anniversary of MGIMO

15 October 2024

On 14 October the 80th anniversary of MGIMO was celebrated in the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory.

The event was opened by MGIMO Rector Professor Anatoly Torkunov. ‘80 years is a rather short period of time, but as the great sage Confucius said, life is measured not by years, but by deeds. Eight decades ago, our University was led by very young people who were striving to create such an atmosphere, which is reflected in our anthem, composed by Sergey Viktorovich. This is the idea of the student brotherhood, the idea of serving the Fatherland, the state and the nation,’ Anatoly Vasilyevich emphasised. 

Anatoly Torkunov reminded that on the 18th of September by the Decree of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin the University was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky ‘for high achievements in scientific and pedagogical activities and many years of effective training of highly qualified specialists in the field of international relations, world economy, international law and international journalism’. The Rector congratulated the MGIMO staff on the high award and thanked them for their professionalism and selfless labour.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov read out a congratulatory message from Russian President Vladimir Putin. ‘The high state award is fully deserved. MGIMO has firmly established itself among the world's leading centres for training international specialists,’ the congratulatory message reads, ’Genuine professionalism invariably distinguishes those MGIMO graduates who work in many other spheres: in various government agencies, in science and education, in business and mass media.

Sergey Lavrov emphasised that for eight decades MGIMO has been preserving glorious traditions and culture inherited from the founders, contemporaries and participants of the Second World War. 
Minister emphasised the importance of constant close cooperation between MGIMO and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Before the concert, the guests of the evening saw fragments of the film ‘It's All MGIMO’, filmed to mark the 80th anniversary of MGIMO - many of its characters were present in the hall. The film was premiered on the First Channel.

The evening's programme included a performance by the symphony orchestra of the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory under the direction of Honoured Artist of Russia Levin. The guests enjoyed the sound of the Polonaise from the opera ‘Eugene Onegin’ and Tchaikovsky's Concerto No.1 for Piano and Orchestra, the suite ‘Spanish Capriccio’ by Rimsky-Korsakov.

At the end of the concert the MGIMO Anthem was performed by the MGIMO Proxenos Choir under the direction of Faddey Nepokorov, a laureate of all-Russian and international competitions, accompanied by the Moscow Conservatory Orchestra and the hall.

The celebration, held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, was attended by more than 1,600 people - friends of the University, faculty, staff and alumni.

The event was organised by the MGIMO Alumni Association and the MGIMO Endowment. The partners of the evening were the Abrau-Durso Group of Companies, Chateau de Thaloux, Mercury Retail Group, Nikolaevsky Cheese Factory and Vyselkovsky Agrocomplex.