The purpose of the Hermitage Music Academy programme
is to restore the traditions of the so-called 'Hermitages' that took place in the halls of the Winter
Palace and the Hermitage Theatre in the age of Catherine
the Great. The Hermitage Music Academy is not a new
educational institution, but a form of spiritual communication
between people; it has been established with the purpose
of carrying out cultural and educational activity aimed at preserving
and restoring the classical music heritage.
This unique Hermitage programme was launched in 1997;
it was preceded by the opening of the Hermitage Theatre after its reconstruction
in 1991 and the awarding of the official status of the State Hermitage
Orchestra to the St Petersburg Camerata Orchestra.
The Hermitage Music Academy programme includes
all forms of music presentation, ranging from chamber concerts and master
classes to grandioso gala concerts. The magnificent Hermitage Theatre,
the exquisite museum halls, its architecturally amazing inner yards
became concert venues for the musical events of the programme. Those
are the symbolic 'Gardens of Academus' where the musical art pleases
its true admirers.
The year 1997 was also marked by the opening
of the Hermitage Music Academy Foundation; among its board
of trustees there are: Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State
Hermitage (chairman of the board), and Saulus Sondetskis,
artistic director of the State Hermitage Orchestra. The foundation
supported the following series of concerts within the Hermitage
Music Academy programme: Musical Treasures of the Hermitage,
Debuts and Premiers in the Hermitage Theatre, ...just
Mozart!, All Symphonies by Beethoven in the Hermitage
(2000-2001), Beethoven Music in the Hermitage,
The Window to Europe, Italian Music in the Italian
Skylight Halls, Musical Collections, Venetian Memories (music by Antonio
Vivaldi in the halls of the Hermitage), The World
of Chamber Opera, Russian Church Choir Music in the Great
Church of the Winter Palace (2002-2003),
Music of Joy, Youth to St Petersburg, as well
as the Musical Hermitage and Music of the Greater
Hermitage annual international festivals. Concerts take place in the halls
of the Winter Palace, the Small and the New
Hermitage, in the Hermitage Theatre; concerts in the summertime
are also held in the Great Courtyard of the Winter
Palace.
The director of the Hermitage Music Academy Foundation
and the artistic director of the programme is the composer Sergey Evtushenko.
The executive director of the Hermitage Music Academy Foundation is Eiske Fujino (Japan).
Chronicle of events
Summer 2012: 12th International
Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2012: 9th International Festival
The Musical Hermitage
Winter 2011: 8th International Festival
The Musical Hermitage
Summer 2010: 10th International
Festival Music of the Greater Hermitage
Winter 2010:7th International
Festival The Musical Hermitage
Summer 2009: International
Festival Greater Hermitage Music
Winter 2009: VI International
Festival Musical Hermitage
Summer 2008: VIII International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2008: V International
Festival Musical Hermitage
Summer 2007: VII International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2007: IV International Festival Musical Hermitage
Summer 2006: VI International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Spring 2006: REMBRANDT, musical
pictures
Winter 2006: III International Festival Musical Hermitage,
MOZART XXI
Summer 2005: V International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2005: II International Festival Musical Hermitage
Summer 2004: IV International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2004: International Festival 1000 and One Concert
Summer 2003: III International Festival Music of the Greater
Hermitage
Winter 2003: International Cultural Project The World
of Chamber Opera
Summer 2002: II International
Festival Music of the Greater Hermitage
Summer 2001: Tuba mirum
Project
