The conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonia, honored Artist of Russia, bearer of the Friendship Order professor 
Vladimir Altschuler had joined the orchestra in 1969, a year before graduating from the Leningrad Conservatory (viola class under Y. Kramarov). In 1972, the musicians founded the Philharmonic String Quartet, and in 1982 became the concertmaster of the orchestra’s viola section. At the same time Vladimir Altschuler graduated from the Conservatory, class of Opera and symphony conducting under A. Dmitriev. He made his conducting debut in 1984 with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St Petersburg Philharmonia. In that very year he became the assistant conductor of the orchestra.

In 1994, Vladimir Altschuler took the position of the conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra. The artist’s repertoire attracts with its wide variety: from Bach's Clavier concertos to Shostakovich's movie soundtracks, from Waltzes and Polkas by J.Strauss to works by Penderecki and Lutosławski. He was the first in Russia to perform all of Bruckner's symphonies, Handel's «Saul» Oratorio, Monteverdi's «Orpheus» opera (authentic version). The conductor has intense interest in 20^th century music. Thanks to Vladimir Altschuler, Tippet's «Child of our time» Oratorio and Orff's «Bernauerin» music drama were performed in St. Petersburg for the first time. He presented premieres of works by Ustvolskaya, Falik, Basner, Slonimsky and other Russian and foreign composers; together with the Academic Symphony Orchestra he played eight symphonies of Slonimsky (six of them – performed for the first time), including the 23^rd, which the composer dedicated to him, and the 34^th – the last one composed by Slonimsky.

The conductor has toured abroad: Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia, the Baltic countries and the Republic of Korea.

In the 2025/2026 season, Vladimir Altschuler's concerts with the Academic Symphony Orchestra include Brahms' Second Symphony, Liszt's First Piano Concerto (soloist V. Kuleshov), Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet, Albeniz’ Spanish Suite, Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, Rachmaninoff’s symphonic fantasy “The Cliff”, Schumann’s Cello Concerto with Alexander Rudin and Bruckner's Fourth Symphony. One of the concerts will be held on Temirkanov's birthday on December 10.

In February, as part of the next Yellow Stars project, named after the work by I. Schwartz, which was premiered in 2000 by Vladimir Altschuler, the permanent conductor of the project, Concerto funebre for violin and strings by Hartmann will be performed.

September 2025