If you're in St. Petersburg this week, the Philharmonia has a packed schedule. According to the venue's official channel, the programme includes music by Astor Piazzolla, Shostakovich's monumental 24 Preludes and Fugues, and a chamber evening with pianist Denis Matsuev.
Grand Hall: Two Very Different Evenings
The "From Argentina with Love" programme builds around Piazzolla — not ballroom dancing, but concert-hall tango: the kind that influenced a generation of composers. Expect Libertango, Oblivion and the rest of the canon, performed live.
Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues is a different proposition entirely: a long, demanding work the composer wrote as a personal response to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Hearing the full cycle in the Grand Hall — the room where so much of this repertoire was first performed in the city — is one of the better ways to experience it. Set aside a full evening; this is not background listening, and the acoustics reward sitting through the whole arc rather than dipping in.
Check the current dates and times on philharmonia.spb.ru — tickets are available online.
Small Hall: Matsuev Chamber Recital
The Schubert Small Hall (Nevsky Prospekt 30) is a tighter, more intimate space than the Grand Hall. A chamber programme featuring Denis Matsuev is listed for this week. Tickets for Matsuev events move quickly.
Getting There
Both halls are a 5-minute walk from Nevsky Prospekt metro station. The Grand Hall is on Mikhailovskaya Street 2; the Small Hall is at Nevsky 30, towards Admiralteyskaya. Public transport or a cab is easier than parking in the centre at night.
Where to Stay
For evening concerts, central accommodation makes sense — you can walk to both venues and don't need to think about last metro times. The Grand Hall is served by the last metro well past midnight.
Book soon: late October in Petersburg is busier than it looks, especially around the school holiday period starting October 29.
Cover photo: Ninara, CC BY 2.0, Викисклад
