St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia's oldest symphonic ensemble, was founded in 1882. In that year, on the Order of Alexander III, the Court Musical Choir was established - the prototype of today’s Honoured Collective of the Russian Federation. Thus, in 2007, the orchestra celebrated its 125th anniversary. The Musicians' Choir was founded to perform in the «royal presence» - at receptions and official ceremonies and at the balls, plays and concerts at the Royal Court. The pinnacle of this type of activity was the participation of the choir in 1896 in the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II. In 1897 the Court Choir became the Court Orchestra, its musicians having been transferred from the military and given the same rights as other actors of royal theatres. In the early 20th century the orchestra was permitted to perform at commercial concerts for general public. Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his Symphony No 6 (“Pathetique”) with the orchestra shortly before his death. The series of concerts «Orchestral Collections of New Music» saw the first Russian performances of Richard Strauss’ symphonic poems «Ein Heldenleben» and «Also sprach Zarathustra», Mahler’s First Symphony, Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony and Skryabin’s Poem of Ecstasy. Among the conductors were world renowned-musicians such as Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch, Alexander Glazunov and Serge Koussevitsky.
In 1917 the Orchestra became the State Orchestra and following the Decree of 1921 it was incorporated into the newly founded Petrograd Philharmonic, the first of its kind in the country. Shortly afterwards an unprecedented number of great Western conductors began to come to conduct the
orchestra. Their names enjoy unquestioned authority in today’s musical world: Otto Klemperer (who also conducted the subscrption concerts), Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner and many more. Soloists Vladimir Horowitz and Sergey Prokofiev (the latter performing his piano concertos) appeared with the orchestra. On the initiative of foreign conductors, the orchestra begins to play modern repertoire – Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Hindemith, Honegger, Poulenc and continued to premiere the music of contemporary Russian composers. Back in 1918, directed by the composer, the orchestra had premiered the Classical symphony of Prokofiev. And in 1926 Shostakovich made his debut as a composer when Nikolay Malko conducted Shostakovich’s First Symphony in the Great Hall of the Philharmonia.
In 1934 the orchestra was the first in the country to receive the title of the Honoured Orchestra of the Republic. Four years later Evgeny Mravinsky, the First Prize winner of the National Conductors Competition, joined the orchestra and for the next 50 years he gradually transformed it into one of the best orchestras in the world. For the performance of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich symphonies, the orchestra rapidly became «the model». The class of the virtuoso orchestra permitted its recognition next to the orchestras of von Karajan and Walter and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as the best interpreters of Mozart during the Viennese festival dedicated to Mozart’s 200th anniversary. Unique in the musical world was also the creative alliance of Mravinsky and Shostakovich. Many of the symphonies were premiered by Mravinsky and they became the centerpieces of the repertoire, both at home and abroad on tour. We may imagine how deeply Shostakovich appreciated this collaboration when he dedicated the Eighth Symphony to Mravinsky. The orchestra also performed in this period and beyond with other famous conductors including Leopold Stokowski, Igor Markevich, Kurt Sanderling, Georg Solti, Arvid Jansons, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Evgeny Svetlanov and Mariss Jansons,
In 1988 Yuri Temrikanov was elected by its musicians to becomes the principal conductor of the most famous national orchestra, ahe holds to this day. In just the last few years the orchestra gave several world premieres and opened the 2005-2006 Season at Carnegie Hall, the culmination of its performances in all the most prestigious concert halls of the world. During the last season, after a long gap, the orchestra went for the first time on an important tour of Siberia to Irkutsk, Surgut and Khanty-Mansiysk - the 2nd International Music Festival «Stars at Baikal». In June 2007 the orchestra closed the 2nd Festival of World Symphony Orchestras in Moscow.
This season of the Philharmonic Orchestra is especially rich in special events. The orchestra will continue celebrating its 125th anniversary: it features at the opening of the season and presents two subscription series («Yuri Temirkanov and his orchestra» and «The First Russian Symphony Orchestra»).
The culmination of the anniversary celebrations will be the winter festival «Arts Square» which will open with the orchestra performing with Evgeny Kissin. In the newly refurbished Philharmonic Hall the orchestra gives with Krzysztof Penderecki the first St. Petersburg performance of his «Polish requiem», gives a concert with Rodion Shchedrin in which the composer will play his First Piano Concerto, performs at the Marathon-Concert for the International Music Day and celebrates the 125th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky. The orchestra also visits the USA with a major concert tour, including three performances in Carnegie Hall. The St.Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra will close the season with a traditional festival «Music Collection» in June where it will play with Serge Baudo, Hans Graf, Freddy Kempf and Paata Burchuladze.
