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The
St. Petersburg Philharmonia, the oldest Philharmonia in Russia,
is more than two hundred years old. Its history goes back to 1802
when the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society, the first one in Europe,
was created. It organized the world premiere of Beethoven's Missa
Solemnis
in 1824.
The building housing the Philharmonia was constructed
in 1839 by the architect P. Jacot (the facade designed by C. Rossi)
for the St. Petersburg Assembly of the Noble.
 The
hall with wonderful acoustics and a seating capacity of over 1500
has been the center of the city's musical life since the end of
1840es. Numerous renowned musicians of the XIX century performed
here. F. Lizst, H. Berlioz, R. Wagner, G. Mahler, A. Rubinstein,
K. Schumann, P. Viardo, P. Sarasate and others were among them.
Many works of such exponents of Russian classical tradition as Borodin,
Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov were premiered
here.
On June 21, 1921 the enauguration of the Petrograd Philharmonia
took place. The orchestra was conducted by E.Couper, the first
Director of the Philharmonia, a talented conductor and brilliant
organizer.  The concert program was dedicated to P.I.Tchaikovsky's
works. In a short period of time the Philharmonia developed diverse
concert, educational and publishing activities; the unique Philharmonic
Library favoured this process. The Philharmonic Orchestra (at present
the St. Petersburg Philharmonic) became its leading orchestra. In
the course of 50 years (1938 - 1988) it was headed by the outstanding
Russian conductor E.A. Mravinsky.
Since 1988 Yuri Temirkanov, one of the world's leading conductors,
has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Orchestra.
The concert repertoire was broadened by Russian and world classical
music as well as works by the distinguished composers of the XX
century such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Hindemith (all of
them performed in the Great Hall). The number of guest artists also
increased. Such famous contemporary musicians as O.Klemperer, B.Walter, E.Ansermet, E.Kleiber, L.Stokowski, A.Cortot, A.Schnabel, A.Rubinstein, B.Britten, F.Fischer-Diskau, S.Richter, E.Gilels, A.B.Michelangeli, G.Gould, Y.Menuchin, M.Rostropovich appeared in the
Hall.
Among the orchestras that gave concerts here were the Filadelfia,
Clieveland, Chicago Orchestras, the Berlin, Vienna and New-York
Philharmonic Orchestras, the Konzertgebau of Amsterdam. Some great
careers started here. Schostakovich's First Symphony was premiered
here on May 12, 1926. The outstanding composer performed in the
Hall for many years. In 1930es,
when he lived in Moscow, he used to come here to premiere his works.
Nowadays the St. Petersburg Philharmonia bears his name. The Grand
Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia is one of the best concert
halls in Europe. It is considered to be prestigious and honorable
to perform here. The concert life of the Hall has considerably changed;
new names appear in its concert programs. But, as I. Andronikov,
a famous artist and literary critic, said, it is still "one of the
best places in the earth".
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