Academic Philarmonia named after D.D.Shostakovich

The Grand Hall
2, Michailovskaya st., St Petersburg

The St. Petersburg Philarmonia, the oldest Philarmonia in Russia, is almost two hundred years old. Its history goes back to 1802 when the St. Petersburg Philarmonic Society, the first one in Europe, was created. The building housing the Philarmonia was constructed in 1839 by the architect P. Jacot (the facade designed by C. Rossi) for the St. Petersburg Assembly of the Noble.

The Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philarmonia is one of the best concert halls in Europe. A first-class acoustics hall, placing more than 1500 people, since 40's of last century has become a centre of musical life of Petersburg. The famous musicians of 19th century performed there: F.List, G.Berlioz, R.Vagner, G.Maler A.Rubinstein, K.Shuman, P.Viardo, P.Sarasate and others. There were the first compositions of Russian music classics: Borodin, Musorgsky, Chaikovsky, Rymsky-Korsakov, Glasunov. It is considered prestigious and honorable to perform here. The main performancing group is a symphonical orchestra of the philarmony (the Honoured group of Russia).