History of St. Petersburg: Exhibition “Music of besieged Leningrad” opened

The exhibition Music of besieged Leningrad has opened in the Memorial Hall of the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad.

The exhibition tells about the musical life of besieged Leningrad, which never stopped in the city, despite the awful trials and hardships of the wartime. Concerts that took place at the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philarmonic, as well as at other concert and theatre halls, were broadcast on the radio and supported the fortitude of the Leningraders, their will to live and the belief in victory.

The exhibition pays special attention to the Leningrad premiere of the Seventh Symphony by D. D. Shostakovich of August 9, 1942. The symphony became the musical symbol of the besieged city’s fight against the enemy.

The exposition features concert posters, wartime photographs, artworks, musical instruments, players, means of communication and notification from the collections of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. They help to recreate the picture of the musical life of Leningrad of 1941-1945.

The exhibition will run until March 30, 2023.