Note to Correspondents

SAINT PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA TO HOLD CONCERT ON 7 MAY,

 

CELEBRATING 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF END OF SECOND WORLD WAR

 

The sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, as well as the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations, will be celebrated by a concert to be held in the General Assembly Hall, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, on 7 May at 5 p.m.

Louise Fréchette, Deputy-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jean Ping, President of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly, and Andrey I. Denisov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, will make the opening remarks.  Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will introduce the programme and speakers.

“Leningradskaya”, Symphony № 7, by Dmitry Shostakovich will be performed by the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted under the baton of maestro Yury Temirkanov.

The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra is Russia’s oldest symphony orchestra and is recognized as one of the greatest orchestras in the world.  It was formed out of the nineteenth century “Imperial Music Choir” in 1882, but initially played only for the Imperial Court and in aristocratic circles.  In October 1917, the ensemble was declared a State orchestra, giving its first public concert in Soviet Russia.  In 1918, the orchestra was incorporated into the newly founded Petrograd Philharmonic Society.  In 1991, after its home city was renamed, the orchestra changed its name from the Leningrad Philharmonic to the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.

Maestro Temirkanov was born in Nalchik and has conducted the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre.  He has also worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London.  In 1988, Mr. Temirkanov was elected Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1996, he conducted the Gala concert in Rome, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.  He has performed with many great orchestras of the world including:  the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw, the Cleveland Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony and the Santa Cecilia.

The United Nations Department of Public Information has worked with the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations to organize this concert.

The concert was made possible by the generosity of Federal Russian Agency for Culture and Cinematography, Severstal Group, Renova, Polet Cargo Airlines, Access Industries, Vnesheconombank, UTair, Lukoil, Brunswick UBS, Korkunov’s chocolate,  ICM Artists Ltd. and  Aeroflot Airlines.

Accredited correspondents who wish to attend the concert should contact:  concert_rus_un@yahoo.com.  For additional information, please call:  Natalia Nadtochiy at tel: (212) 535-5138, or Andrey Chernov at tel: (212) 861-4903.

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