Music of the Greater Hermitage Project Opening Festival

On 5 and 6 July, 2002, concerts of the festival opening the Music of the Greater Hermitage Project took place in the Big Church and St. George Hall of the Winter Palace. The project is part of the large-scale long-term Greater Hermitage Reconstruction and Development Program which has no precedents in the museum's history.
On 5 July the Big Church of the Winter Palace hosted the concert of religious choral music of Bortnyansky and Galuppi and motets of Bach performed by Millenium Chamber Choir, St. Petersburg, conducted by Lev Dunayev.
On 6 July the State Hermitage Orchestra, Chorus of Bad Homburg and German soloists Silke Burt (soprano), Ralf Petrausch (tenor) and Markus Fleig (bass), conducted by Mats Liliefors, Sweden, performed in the St. George Hall of the Winter Palace Joseph Haydn's oratorio Die Schoepfung. This oratorio was immensely popular in Russia and went down into the history of music: its three successive performances in 1801 became a remarkable event in the musical life of St. Petersburg. It prompted the creation in 1802 in the Russian capital of the Philharmonic Society under the patronage of Alexander I which was destined to play a pivotal role in the development of Russia's musical culture. The oratorio was once again performed at the Society's inaugural ceremony.

Millenium Chamber Choir

The concert

Chorus of
Bad Homburg and the State Hermitage Orchestra