The leadership of the Hermitage supported the initiative of the conductor of the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra Nikolai Alekseev on a joint project

ST. PETERSBURG. Harmony of painting and music in a joint project of two art churches in St. Petersburg.

The idea of synthesizing classical music and painting in one program is not new. The most striking example of such an audiovisual project is The December Evenings, invented in 1981 by Svyatoslav Richter and Irina Antonova. For more than three decades, under the arches of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin sounds classical music. Musee du Louvre regularly hosts chamber music concerts. The Paris Museum National du Moyen Age introduces visitors to the melodies popular in the Middle Ages.

Good experience in educational music projects is in the arsenal of art galleries in Penza, Novosibirsk, and Tver. The relevance of a similar project for the Hermitage was obvious initially. Holding musical evenings within its walls is a revival of the traditions of the imperial house. Over the years, as part of the Music of the Great Hermitage festival, the audience was able to see the premiere of Krzysztof Penderetsky’s oratorio in a unique open-air concert hall, the opera Carnival in Northern Venice, the Tchaikovsky Gala program with the participation of Saulius Sondeckis, the Moscow Virtuosi Orchestra, a symphony orchestra conducted by maestro Valery Gergiev.

The collaboration of the Philharmonic and the Hermitage will turn the temple of music into a kind of branch of the main museum of St. Petersburg. Canvases from his collection are planned to be shown on the screen installed in the Great Hall of the Shostakovich Philharmonic. As part of the “Dialogs on Art” subscription, the public will get an idea of music and paintings of various eras, trends and styles.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru