The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia's oldest symphonic ensemble, was founded in 1882. In the early 20th century the orchestra was permitted to perform at commercial concerts for the general public. Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his Symphony No 6 (Pathetique) with the orchestra shortly before his death. The series of concerts Orchestral Collections of New Music saw the first Russian performances of Richard Strauss' symphonic poems Ein Heldenleben and Also Sprach Zarathustra, Mahler's First Symphony, Bruckner's Ninth Symphony and Skryabin's Poem of Ecstasy. Among the conductors were world renowned-musicians such as Richard Strauss, Arthur Nikisch, Alexander Glazunov and Serge Koussevitsky.
In 1917 the Orchestra became the State Orchestra and following the Decree of 1921 it was incorporated into the newly founded Petrograd Philharmonic, the first of its kind in the country. Shortly afterwards an unprecedented number of great Western conductors began to come to conduct the orchestra. Their names enjoy unquestioned authority in today's musical world: Otto Klemperer (who also conducted the subscription concerts), Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner and many more. Soloists Vladimir Horowitz and Sergey Prokofiev (the latter performing his own piano concertos) appeared with the orchestra. On the initiative of foreign conductors, the orchestra began to play modern repertoire - Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Hindemith, Honegger, Poulenc, and continued to premiere the music of contemporary Russian composers. Back in 1918, directed by the composer, the orchestra had premiered Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.
In 1934 the orchestra was the first in the country to receive the title of the Honoured Orchestra of the Republic. Four years later Evgeny Mravinsky, the First Prize winner of the National Conductors Competition, joined the orchestra and for the next 50 years he gradually transformed it into one of the best orchestras in the world. The orchestra rapidly became the model for the performance of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich symphonies. The class of this virtuoso orchestra permitted its recognition next to the orchestras of von Karajan and Walter and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as the best interpreters of Mozart during the Viennese festival dedicated to Mozart's 200th anniversary. Also unique in the musical world was the creative alliance of Mravinsky and Shostakovich. Many of the symphonies were premiered by Mravinsky and they became the centrepieces of the repertoire, both at home and abroad on tour. We may imagine how deeply Shostakovich appreciated this collaboration when he dedicated the Eighth Symphony to Mravinsky. The orchestra also performed in this period and beyond with other famous conductors including Leopold Stokowski, Igor Markevich, Kurt Sanderling, Georg Solti, Arvid Jansons, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Evgeny Svetlanov and Mariss Jansons.
In 1988 the musicians of this now most famous national orchestra, elected Yuri Temirkanov to become Principal Conductor - a title he still holds to this day. In just the last few years the orchestra has given several world premieres and opened the 2005-2006 season at Carnegie Hall - the culmination of its performances in all the most prestigious concert halls of the world. During the last season, after a long gap, the orchestra went for the first time on an important tour of Siberia to Irkutsk, Surgut and Khanty-Mansiysk - the 2nd International Music Festival Stars at Baikal. In June 2007 the orchestra closed the 2nd Festival of World Symphony Orchestras in Moscow.
The 2007/08 season was especially rich in special events for the Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra continued celebrating its 125th anniversary presenting two subscription series at the opening of the season; Yuri Temirkanov and his orchestra and The First Russian Symphony Orchestra. The culmination of the anniversary celebrations was the winter festival Arts Square which opened with the orchestra performing with Evgeny Kissin. In the newly refurbished Philharmonic Hall the orchestra with Krzysztof Penderecki gave the first St. Petersburg performance of his Polish Requiem, in a concert with Rodion Shchedrin in which the composer played his First Piano Concerto, performed at the Marathon-Concert for the International Music Day, and celebrated the 125th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky. The orchestra also visited the USA with a major concert tour, including three performances in Carnegie Hall, and during a European Tour in May 2008, Maestro Yuri Temirkanov was awarded with the Italian Premio Franco Abbiati, as best conductor of the 2006/2007 Season. The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra closed the season with a traditional festival Music Collection in June where it played with Serge Baudo, Hans Graf, Freddy Kempf and Paata Burchuladze.