St. Petersburg State Philharmonic named after D. D. Shostakovich

The Philharmonic Society in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest in our country. It bears the name of Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, who wrote the famous First Symphony. This work was first performed here in 1926, and since then the St. Petersburg Philharmonic has remained the main venue for rehearsals and performances of the symphony orchestra.

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Tourists coming to the Northern Capital of Russia, among whom there are many admirers of high art, strive to be sure to visit the concerts held here. Especially excellent acoustics in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, designed for 1500 seats. More chamber concerts are given in the Small Hall. At one time this honored group of classical music performers was led by the outstanding art figure, Soviet director Evgeny Alexandrovich Mravinsky. Since 1988, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra has been conducted by Soviet and Russian director, People’s Artist of the USSR Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov.

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Video: Philharmonia in St. Petersburg

Contents

Highlights

History of the D. D. Shostakovich Philharmonic

The annals of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic Society date back to 1803. At the time of its foundation, it was the first philharmonic society in Europe. In 1821 it had a housewarming party, moving into the former building of the Noble Assembly. The building was designed by architect Paul Jacquot, and the facade was designed by Carlo Rossi. Since then, the Philharmonic embodies the musical life of the city, it has become its center. The building that houses the Small Hall has its own history. Beneath its arches balls and social receptions were held. It is in this building that the plot of Lermontov’s drama “Masquerade” unfolds.”

Three more years later, the society, as they would say now, loudly announced itself by organizing the world premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Solemn Mass”. Famous musicians of the last century performed within the Philharmonic’s walls: Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, Modest Mussorgsky, Pauline Viardot, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and others.

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Art is said to be outside politics. However, various social cataclysms – change of the state system, war – affect it as well, as evidenced by the further history of this concert venue. Thus, on June 12, 1921, the new revolutionary authorities decided to change the former “tsarist” name of the Philharmonic, giving it a new, revolutionary name – Petrogradskaya. The grand opening of the latter was marked by a symphonic concert, the program of which included works by Tchaikovsky. The first director of the “new old” Philharmonic, Russian and American conductor Emil Albertovich Cooper, conducted. He was a native of Kherson, who first stood behind the conductor’s console in 1896. He first worked at the Kiev Opera, then at Zimin’s private opera in Moscow and finally at the Russian Imperial Opera.

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Another politically related episode from the annals of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. In the summer of 1922, a trial of the Petrograd Orthodox clergy took place in its building. There were 86 defendants in the dock. The authorities imputed to them their involvement in the unrest that occurred during the seizure of valuables from local churches. Ten people were sentenced to death, among them Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd and Gdov, Archimandrite Sergius (Shein), and others.

When the Great Patriotic War began, it would seem that everyone was not up to high art. Especially in besieged Leningrad. However, art is art that can break through even the veil of grief and suffering, finding its way to people’s hearts and warming them, so the performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony on August 9, 1942 had a huge moral and psychological, agitational and political significance. On that significant and exciting day the orchestra was conducted by K. I. Eliasberg. The significance of this event is also evidenced by the fact that it was immortalized: in 1985 a memorial plaque was placed on the Philharmonic’s wall in his memory.

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Already after the war, on May 15, 1949, the Philharmonic received another hall – the Small Hall. It was located in a building on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt (house No. 16) and Griboyedov Canal Embankment (house No. 30), known as the Engelhardt House. It was built by the Italian-born Russian architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli.

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Philharmonic today, repertoire

Every year in the second half of December, the Philharmonic Society in St. Petersburg hosts the winter music festival “Arts Square”, which has become a tradition. The institution acts not only as its concert venue, but also as an organizer. Concerts within the festival are held not only in the Philharmonic Hall, but also in the halls of St. Petersburg theaters, museums and temples. And from May to June, a number of international festivals, such as “Musical Collection”, are held within the walls of the institution.

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Concerts in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and not only within the framework of these or those festivals, are, of course, paid. Meanwhile, many free events are organized here, gathering the widest audience, including guests of the Northern Capital. Among them we can single out “Concerts in the Foyer”, they are organized for regular listeners, as well as concerts for orphans and children with disabilities, designed to help their development and social adaptation, united under the common name “Magic Airship”. It is especially touching when young listeners and spectators are invited on stage together with the performers. Children at such moments are inspired by what is going on, they feel needed by society, their aspiration to become worthy citizens of their country, to set high goals for themselves and achieve them grows in them.

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In addition to concert activities, the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic performs music, lectures and publishes. The institution has an extensive library fund. Performers are two renowned academic symphony orchestras. The first has the title of Honored Ensemble of the Russian Federation, whose artistic director and chief conductor is People’s Artist of the USSR Yuri Temirkanov, and whose conductor is People’s Artist of Russia Nikolai Alekseev. The second is led by conductors Alexander Dmitriev, People’s Artist of the USSR, and Vladimir Altshuler, Honored Artist of Russia.

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For information: in the fall of 2016, the Great Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic became one of the participants of the project “Talking City”, thanks to which comfortable conditions are created for visually impaired visitors. Special radio informers are installed at the entrances on the side of Italianskaya and Mikhailovskaya Streets. They help visually impaired visitors to get to the box office foyer and the auditorium.

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The repertoire of concerts at the Shostakovich Philharmonic. The repertoire of concerts at the Shostakovich Philharmonic expands with domestic and foreign works of musical classics, including works by such outstanding composers of the last century as Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and Paul Hindemith. All of them, each in their own time, performed in the Great Hall. At the same time, the circle of touring musicians was also expanding. Let us name a few names that need no further introduction: M. Rostropovich, O. Klemperer, Ar. Rubinstein, A. B. Michelangeli, I. Menuhin, B. Walter, E. Kleiber and others. The orchestras of the Philharmonic Orchestras of Berlin, New York and Vienna, orchestras from Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw have played on the Grand Hall stage.”

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At present, the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic is one of the best concert venues in Europe. It is prestigious to perform there, the most famous musicians and ensembles are honored to give concerts here, because it marks a whole new level of recognition. For 215 years of its existence many things in the concert life have become different, the names on the posters have changed, but the main purpose of the Philharmonic remains unchanged – to bring high art to people, to educate them in goodness and love. The famous literary scholar and artist Irakli Andronikov once said about the Philharmonic Grand Hall that it remains “one of the best places on Earth”. It seems that these words can be attributed to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic as a whole.

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How to get there

The building of the Great Hall of the Shostakovich Philharmonic can be reached by car. Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall can be reached by metro. From the metro station “Nevsky Prospekt – Gostiny Dvor” you need to get off at Mikhailovskaya Street and walk along it to the Square of Arts, the whole way will take 3 minutes.

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An alternative to the subway is buses. You can get there by route numbers 7, 22, 24, 27 and 191. Get off at the stop “Nevsky Prospekt metro station”. You can also get to the Philharmonic Society by trolleybus (routes Nos. 1, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 22, same stop) and shuttle bus (Nos. 107, 289). Ask the driver to stop at the Square of the Arts, just before the entrance to the Great Hall. Listeners enter from the side of the square, entrance No. 1. The entrance to the box office is at 2 Mikhailovskaya Street,

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The entrance to the Small Hall and the box office is at 30 Nevsky Prospekt. You can get here by buses No. 7, 22, 24, 27 and 191 (stop “Nevsky Prospekt Metro Station”) and trolleybuses No. 1, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 22 (same stop).

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