In 1989 the Leningrad Conservatoire invited Maestro Sondeckis who already was a world renowned conductor, to lead the student orchestra and thus the youth orchestra "St. Petersburg Camerata" was officially established.

 

The bright collective led by an outstanding artistic director soon outgrew its initial status. It became one of the best chamber orchestras in Russia and attracted the attention of such titans of the musical world as Menuhin, Rostrpovich, Valery Gergiev, Krzysztof Penderecki and Vladimir Spivakov. In their interviews to various media, the musicians mentioned above, have made numerous praises of the orchestra. The success of the performance of Haendel's oratorio "Messiah" was so phenomenal, that the prefix "junior" in the orchestras name was dropped and immediately forgotten. The orchestra became one of the most popular collectives in St. Petersburg and in Russia. In 1991 the State Hermitage director B.B. Piotrovsky decided to revive the Hermitage theatre and invited the St. Petersburg Camerata to perform regularly on the stages and in the palace staterooms. In 1994 the orchestra was granted the status of "State Hermitage Orchestra" by the new director of the State Hermitage M. B. Piotrovsky. Since that time the orchestra takes part in all various events at the Hermitage. There are world known musical events such as the program "Musical Hermitage" for tourists - daily concerts of popular classical pieces in the museum rooms and the Hermitage festivals: "Big Waltz" and "Dedication to Maestro".

 

The concerts of this orchestra do not only take place here - it tours many countries and takes part in various musical festivals. Among the most important there are the famous festivals: "St. Petersburg palaces", "Musical Olympus", the "Stars of the White Nights" and the "Royal Baltic Festival". The repertoire of the festival is surprisingly varied. It plays baroque, Russian symphony music, European classical music, jazz series and music from blockbusters. Only the level of perfomance stays constant, that is to day a unique quality of sound and emotion. In general, the range of its today's projects fully reflects the multiple faces of Russia. As the museum defined by its director M.B. Piotrovsky: "An ark of culture" of the modern world. During 20 years of existance The State Hermitage Orchestra, "St. Petersburg Camerata" gave almost 3000 concerts in Russia and whole over the world. It recorded 30 CD and DVD for such companies as Sony Classical and DECCA. With the orchestra performed such prominent soloists as: Natalia Gutman, Ivan Monigetti, Vladimir Krajniev, Igor Oistrakh, Katia Ricciarelli, Elena Obrazcova, Sergiei Nakoriakov, Roberto Alagna, Renée Fleming...