On 28 July 2005 a press conference devoted to the Greater Hermitage Music Festival took place in the Hermitage Theatre.
The State Hermitage, the Foundation of the Hermitage Academy of Music and the DOMUS Producers’ Centre have delivered a presentation on the V International Musical Festival Music of the Greater Hermitage, which takes place in St Peterburg between 29 June and 1 July 2005. Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky is Chairman of the Artistic Council and of the Honorary Committee of the Festival. The concept of the festival was defined by composer Sergey Yevtushenko, who is its Artistic Director.

The International Festival Music of the Greater Hermitage originated with a remarkable event of. 26 July 2001, when visitors were invited to come to the Grand Courtyard of the Winter Palace for the premiere of an oratorio by one of the greatest modern composers Krzysztof Penderecki , The Seven Gates of Jerusalem. More than 350 musicians from six countries around the world and an audience of more than 4,000 were brought together. In 2002 the festival took place inside the Hermitage itself. For the first time ever, concerts by musicians from St Petersburg, Germany, Sweden, and Lithuania were arranged in the Great Throne Room (St George Hall), the principal reception room in the Winter Palace. In 2003 the stylized Carnival in Northern Venice took place in the Grand Court of the Winter Palace.with participation by two opera stars of world renown: Lubov Kazarnovskaya and Katia Ricciarelli. In 2004 the festival brought together a variety of genres and epochs in art: the opera Armida e Rinaldo by Guiseppi Sarti and the Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlio, which was turned into a musical show called An Episode from the Life of an Artist; the presenter was Sergey Makovetsky. There was also a musical mystery based on 20th century works in which Yuri Shevchuk d Dina Dorzun took part.

During 2005 the Music of the Greater Hermitage Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary. The best orchestras and soloists of Russia have been invited. The concerts of this festival are traditional in content but unusual in their form. The world-renowned chamber orchestra Virtuosi of Moscow joins the State Hermitage Orchestra in a large symphonic orchestra directed by Saulius Sondeckis, who is then not only the principal director of the Hermitage Orchestra but also the principal guest director of the Virtuosi of Moscow.

On 29 June the concert entitled Tchaikowsky Gala will feature movements from the symphonies and ballets of Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky. The sensation of this evening will be the participation of the outstanding young musician Sergey Nakaryakov, who will perform on the trumpet Tchaikowsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, which was composed for the cello.

The XIII International Festival Stars of the White Nights salutes the Hermitage musical festival on its anniversary. Within the framework of these two summer festivals in St Petersburg, there will be a performance on 1 July of Hector Berlioz’ heroic Requiem which brings together the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre and the State Hermitage Orchestra under the direction of maestro Valery Gergiev.

Partners of the Festival:
International Moscow Bank - Mezhdunarodny Moskovsky Bank
Hennessy Social and Cultural Foundation
Ŕndersen Hotel
SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Hermitage Restaurant

General informational sponsors:
Channel 1 - St Petersburg television
Melodiya radio station
Eldoradio radio station
“Sobaka.ru” Petersburg city journal
“Time Out Petersburg” magazine

Informational partners of the Festival:
Center for railroad advertisements
“Vash dosug - Your leisure” magazine
“Idealnaya chashka” coffeehouse network

Internet Provider of the Festival
Peterlink Ltd

Informational sponsors of the Festival:
“Art & Times” magazine
“Ęrasny” magazine
“Free Ňime” newspaper
“Neva News” newspaper
“Ŕrguments and Facts” newspaper
“Vecherny Peterburg” newspaper
“Metro” newspaper
“Peterburg na Nevskom” newspaper
“Peterburgsky Chas Pik” newspaper
“Aktivist”, a portal

Musician Sergey Nakaryakov

Principal director of the Hermitage Orchestra Saulius Sondeckis

Artistic Director of the Festival Sergey Yevtushenko

At the press-conference at the Hermitage Theater