Cycle of events in the Presidential Library to the 75th anniversary of the first performance of the Seventh (“Leningrad”) symphony of D. D. Shostakovich in the besieged Leningrad

On August 9, 2017, will be 75 years from the day when the Great Philharmonic Hall in the encircled Leningrad threw its doors open to the public because of the first performance of the Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony of Shostakovich. Series of events dedicated to that concert, which doubtlessly cheered up the residents of the besieged city and played a certain role in the negotiations of the Soviet command with the allies on the second front’s opening, will take place in the Presidential Library on that landmark date.

Series of memorable events will open with an exhibition of “The Blockade through the eyes of contemporary artists” project, dedicated to one of the most important events in the cultural life of the city and in the history of the Great Patriotic War. Through the featured canvases of the artists of different style and temperaments, audience will be able to fully experience a mood and grandeur of that remarkable moment. The names of the paintings, such as “Memory flashes,” “Ether waves” and “Half a world away” — speak for themselves.

At 12 pm public video lecturing of the “Knowledge of Russia” cycle will observe in detail the Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich and apprise a very meaning of this concert for the besieged city. Three guests will appear before the guests of the event. So, a lecture by the head of the Radiobroadcasting Department of the TV and Radiobroadcasting Company “Petersburg” Yuri Radkevich will be dedicated to the Leningrad Radio during the Leningrad Blockade and a life of the Orchestra of the Radio Committee in August 1942. The editor-consultant of the Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications of St. Petersburg State University, a resident of the besieged Leningrad Vladimir Osinsky will tell how a synthesis of word and music determined a spiritual fullness of the radiobroadcasts in Leningrad during the wartime. Svetlana Lavrova, PhD in History of Arts will speak about “The Seventh Symphony of Shostakovich,” in terms of a history of its creation, a brief analysis of the score and the means of musical expressiveness.

In addition, the guests of the Presidential Library will see the performances of laureates of international children's music competitions and the scholarship holders of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charitable Foundation.

Among the participants of the event will be the residents of the blockade city, representatives of youth organizations, journalists, historians, staff employees of libraries, archives, and museums. The residents of cities of military glory and the hero cities, other territories of the former Soviet Union and foreign countries will join the event in video-conferencing mode.

An accreditation of media representatives is open until 12 pm on August 8, 2017.

Please, submit your applications for accreditation in the attached form with the “Media accreditation” note in subject line over email media@prlib.ru, hudjakova@prlib.ru, to Alexandra Khudyakova, phone (812) 305 1621 ext.167, mobile +7 (981) 788 2808.

Your application on the attached form must specify a media name, a full name of media representative, a date and a place of representative’s birth, full passport or picture id details (series, number, when and by what body it was issued, place of residence), a carry-on equipment (including notebooks and tablet computers), and the contact phone numbers.

Please be advised, that the event participants and guests enter the Presidential Library through the entrance № 1, and the media representatives — through the entrance № 2 by appointment only and without any exceptions upon presentment of passport or picture id.