- The Centre is dedicated to the life and music of the most poignant composer of our century, Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich. Open to researchers, musicians, students or fans worldwide, the Centre, based in the very modern Leonardo da Vinci University (Paris la Défense), makes available duplicates of the composer's family archives in addition to various other Western collections (including the world's largest audio collection of the composer's works).

- In an attempt to add a geographical as well as artistic context to Shostakovich's vast musical heritage, the Centre takes in important documentation on other Russian musicians - interpreters and composers - from the earlier part of the 20th century as well as on young musicians from Russia today and from the former Soviet republics.

- The Centre is the Western counterpart of the Moscow-based "Shostakovich Apartment-Museum", based in the composer's last-known work-place. It also acts as a focal point for the various Societies and Associations based in England, France, Japan, Germany, and the USA, by means of the Internet and, more comprehensively, the twice-yearly DSCH Journal, which is edited in English and French. Covering more than 50 countries, the first publications appeared in 1987 and have included articles by musicians, musicologists, and general writers on all subjects concerning Shostakovich's life and work.

- The Centre's president is Mrs. Helene Ahrweiller, who was instrumental in its installation at the Leonardo da Vinci University at Courbevoie (Paris la Défense). Following an initiative by the composer's widow, Mrs. Irina Shostakovich, the "Dmitri Shostakovich International Association" has the ultimate goal of creating a "Shostakovich Foundation" which will include a music school and which will organize concerts, international competitions, and master classes.

The Centre comprises 3 sections:

Shostakovich

Music from Russia in the 20th century

Printed musical references

a collection of 95% of recordings of the composer's work. This collection of around 2000 different recordings (the largest in the world) on disc format as well as an important number of documents on tape, come mainly from Russia. Regular updates are assured to account for the 10 or so new recordings added each month

almost the entire output of musicological studies as well as biographies dedicated to Shostakovich principally in Russian, English, French, German, Bulgarian, Czech and Polish

printed and handwritten scores

programmes from concerts around the world

around a hundred hours of film (documentaries, fiction, concerts)

articles and reviews, various iconographic documents, the composer's obituaries

A computer database has been organised around the following headings:

chronology

discography

printed matter

genealogy

More than 400 composers of the 20th century are represented by documentary and/or recorded evidence. Musical and/or historical criteria justifying their inclusion.

Documents referring to Shostakovich's close friends, pupils and teachers are dealt with separately, as are "special" interpreters of his music such as Rostropovich, Oborin, Yudina, Oistrakh, Vishnevskaya, Maxim Shostakovich, Mravinsky, Kondrashin, Rozhdestvensky, the Beethoven and Borodin Quartets, etc., in addition to various writers, poets, and other intellectuals such as Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Ilf & Petrov, Ivan Sollertinsky, and Marina Tsvetaeva.

Including encyclopaedias, dictionaries, musical magazines.

5000 recordings

2000 LPs

100 78rpm

1500 CDs

150 films

600 books

200 scores

Others events organised by the Centre include:

concerts

symposiums, conferences

exhibitions

film projections

In terms of research opportunities the Centre can offer:

consultation (at the Centre only) of the complete collection (see above)

partial reproduction of certain documents (authorisation required)

iconographic research facilities

database consultation

Internet access