THE ACADEMIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF THE ST PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIA celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2021, and spent the last season under the sign of the 70th anniversary of its incorporation into the Philharmonia. The orchestra traces its history back to 1931, having started its activity as a concert ensemble and then as the Symphony orchestra of Leningrad Radio Committee. Working in live broadcast, the musicians mastered a diverse repertoire. The mobility of the orchestra, which had been led by H. Unger, then I. Alterman, was facilitated also by collaboration with many conductors: O. Fried, F. Stiedry, A. Gauk, V. Dranishnikov, N. Golovanov, E. Mravinsky, I. Musin, B. Khaikin, E. Grikurov, K. Eliasberg, N. Rabinovich, K. Kondrashin.

During the war, the Leningrad Radio Symphony was the only orchestra that remained in the besieged city. Despite the fact that in the first winter of the war the orchestra actually ceased to exist, nonetheless, thanks to heroic efforts, on 9 August 1942, headed by Karl Eliasberg, the orchestra performed the Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. Critics argue that «the Orchestra performances are highly authentic: there is a feeling that the musicians have inherited the tradition of the “Leningrad Symphony” orchestral performance from the older generation » (Tianjin Daily, 2015). Altogether, the orchestra performed more than 300 times during the siege and most of the concerts, including the “Leningrad Symphony” premiere, were held at the Grand Philharmonic Hall.

Continuing to step out onto the famous stage, the orchestra received the status of a philharmonic orchestra in 1953. It was headed by N. Rabinovich, K. Eliasberg and A. Jansons, who took the orchestra on its first foreign tour (Finland, 1965). In 1962-1963, I. Stravinsky and B. Britten performed their own compositions with the orchestra. The orchestra also played under the batons of S. Baudo, I. Markevitch, K. Masur, L. Maazel, E. Svetlanov and R. Rozhdestvensky; V. Cliburn, S. Richter, E. Gilels, I. Stern, Y. Menuhin, D. Oistrakh, M. Rostropovich, D. Shostakovich were the soloists.

In 1968, the orchestra was headed by Yuri Temirkanov. The conductor initiated a rapid growth of the orchestra’s repertoire and played a crucial role in gaining its recognition abroad: the orchestra toured in Bulgaria, Scandinavian countries, The Netherlands (including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw), Japan and USA. «Leningrad – is a magnificent city, it deserves two great orchestras. And it has them…» (New York Post, 1977, after the concert at Carnegie Hall).

From April 1977 to June 2018 the orchestra was headed by Alexander Dmitriev. That period of the orchestra’s activity was marked by receiving of the “academic” title (1985); the biography and repertoire were supplemented by premiere performances of works by Handel, Mahler, R. Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schreker, Honegger, Tippet, Orff, Dutilleux, Pärt, Schnittke, Nono, Ligeti, Adams, Krum, Piazzolla and Leningrad-Petersburg composers, by recordings of all Beethoven and Schubert’s symphonies, of works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Britten. Conductors N. Järvi, A. Katz, D. Kitaenko, Yu. Simonov, V. Fedoseev, A. Lazarev, E. Serov, R. Barshai, Y. Domarkas, R. Martynov, V. Ziva, E. Klas, P. Kogan, M. Shostakovich, V. Sinaisky, S. Sondeckis, A. Titov, M. Rostropovich, P. Berglund, M. Jurowski, J.-K. Casadesus, Y.-P. Tortelier, A. Buribayev, composer K. Penderecki, soloists G. Sokolov, N. Gutman, E. Virsaladze, Yu. Bashmet, V. Tretyakov, J. Lill, J. Ogdon, R. Hall, P. Donohoe and F. Kempf became the creative partners of the orchestra.

The orchestra participates in prestigious international festivals, tours in countries of Europe, Asia and America. Critics were always of high opinion: «The first-class Tchaikovsky and the impressive Shostakovich from the St Petersburg Symphony » (Bachtrack, 2015); «The players irrefutably had a total grasp, understanding and love of the music of their homeland’s music. Tempo and dynamics were spot on and the playing was simply astonishing; artists in total control of every composition, ever bar and every note. They lived, breathed and played with exemplary musicianship, coaxed along by Dmitriev whose fluent, controlled conducting never deviated into unnecessary histrionics» (Bristol.сom, 2017); «Raw passion: Alexander Dmitriev brings dynamic taste of St Petersburg to London» (Bachtrack, 2017); «Rimsky-Korsakov was delightful: in the first part, one could feel the excitement of the sea and the sound of the wind, as if being on a ship with Sinbad» (Rugby Advertiser, 2017).

Nikolay Alexeev has been successfully collaborating with the orchestra throughout the past six seasons. The season opening concerts and foreign tours have been held under his baton, last season highlighted the concert dedicated to the conductor-laureate Alexander Dmitriev’s 90th anniversary.

In the 2024/2025 season, Dimitris Botinis was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra. In the new season, the orchestra's opening and closing concerts, as well as a musical evening within the framework of the “Arts Square” International Winter Festival  are taking place under his leadership. The concert posters feature symphonies by Mahler, Prokofiev, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky’s Suite from the “Firebird” ballet, Tchaikovsky’s Third Suite and Suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya”, Strauss’ “Don Quixote”, Messiaen’s “Les offrandes oubliées”, instrumental concerts of Ravel, Mendelssohn, Glazunov, Brahms, Elgar, Dutilleux, Gubaidulina, composer’s recital of A. Tchaikovsky (to his 80th anniversary) and other bright events.

Under the baton of Vladimir Altschuler, who has been a full-time conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Philharmonia for more than 25 years, Bruckner's monumental Eighth Symphony was performed last season (as part of a two-year cycle of all the composer's symphonies dedicated to his 200th anniversary), the St. Petersburg premiere of Weinberg's Symphony No. 21 took place, and a recital was held to mark the 100th anniversary of Basner's birth. This season, the conductor performs works by Weber, Liszt, Brahms, Lyadov, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Bruckner, Albeniz, Enescu, as well as Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Concerto funebre as part of the Yellow Stars project.

In November, the orchestra under the direction of A. Rybalko will present the world premiere of Korolev's orchestral work *≠* (inequality), in April, under the baton of M. Alexeev, the world premiere of a symphonic composition commissioned by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in dedication to the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant  disaster, and in January, for the first time in Russia, the full version of Shostakovich's “The Human Comedy” will be performed (conducted by D. Jurowski).

Guest conductors feature – F. Korobov, A. Anikhanov, A. Solovyev, P. Bubelnikov, P. Baleff (Germany), D. Savić (Serbia), N. Krauze (France), V. Ovsyanikov.

Soloists feature – pianists N. Lugansky, B. Berezovsky, V. Kuleshov, P. Laul, I. Papoyan; violinists G. Kazazian, N. Boriso-Glebsky, R. Islyamov; cellists A. Rudin, A. Ramm, B. Andrianov, A. Massarsky; saxophonist F. Mondelci (Italy); sopranos A. Shagimuratova, D. Alieva, A. Garifullina.