The musical atmosphere of revolutionary Petrograd was recreated in the Presidential Library

A concert of the students of the St. Petersburg Choral College named after M. I. Glinka was in the Presidential Library today, November 29, 2017, as the event of the “St. Isaac’s Square” First Public Festival. Veterans of the Admiralty District of St. Petersburg were the guests on that show.

As it was observed, it is not a coincidence that one of the events of the “St. Isaac’s Square” festival takes place in the building accommodating the premises of the Presidential Library and located on the Senate Square. Both squares are historically connected: one of the first St. Isaac’s churches was built on the territory of the Senate Square in the beginning of the XVIII century, and later the magnificent St. Isaac’s Cathedral was erected in the square’s southern part.

“The Admiralty District is the heart of St. Petersburg, here we are all surrounded by many cultural sites, — the head of the administration of the Admiralty district Svetlana Shtukova said. — And this is a great idea to open the doors of these beautiful buildings for the residents and guests of our city.”

The events venues of the “St. Isaac’s Square” First Public Festival take place in the buildings that, which a unique architectural ensemble of the central part of St. Petersburg consists of. Each building is a separate chapter of history, connected with important milestones, events and names not only on the city scale, but also in entire Russia. These are the Mariinsky Palace (Legislative Assembly), the Russian Institute of Art History, the All-Russian Institute of Plant Industry named after N. I. Vavilov, the Angleterre Hotel and many others.

The organizers of the festival set themselves a goal to join all the institutions of St. Isaac’s Square into a solid ensemble — not only architectural, but musical and artistic as well — in order to popularize the historical and cultural heritage of St. Petersburg.

In 2017 the festival “St. Isaac’s Square” is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Revolution in Russia and is intended to recreate the cultural and historical context of the beginning of the XX century. Its program consists of musical works that sounded in 1916—1917, which can express to the listeners the atmosphere of revolutionary Petrograd, to gif a feel of what people experienced a century ago. So, during the concert in the Presidential Library such compositions were performed as “Dubinushka,” “Marseillaise,” “On the hills of Manchuria” and other.

The festival “St. Isaac’s Square” is held with the support of the Committee for Culture of the Government of St. Petersburg, the administration of the Admiralty District, the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation and the organizations located on St. Isaac’s Square.