Event: Russia - St. Petersburg

International Winter Festival Arts Square

When:	28 Dec 2007 - 7 Jan 2008 (annual)
Where:	St Petersburg
Costs:	€25-€900 (Ball)
Opening Hours:	Various

Under the auspices of Russian maestro Yuri Temirkanov, the International Winter Festival Arts Square in St Petersburg has become an annual new year feature since first held in December 1998. The 2007/2008 festival celebrates both the 125th anniversary of the founding of the fabled St Petersburg Philharmonic (of which Temirkanov is principal conductor) and the 75th birthday of the St Petersburg Symphony. Performances take place around the Arts Square in the heart of St Petersburg, particularly the Grand Hall of the Philharmonia.

Yuri Temirkanov conducts three concerts during the festival - in the opening one he is joined by pianist Evgeny Kissin for Prokofiev's Third Piano, alongside the composer's First Classical Symphony and Tchaikovsky's ever-popular Fifth Symphony (28 December) and on the last night he is joined by pianist Yuja Wang for Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto, flanked by two medieval-influenced works: Wagner's Overutre Tannhäuser and Carl Orff's brilliant choral epic Carmina Burana (7 January). On 30 December he conducts a mostly Italian programme with soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya and tenor Galuzin in arias and duets from Verdi's Otello and Puccini's Manon Lescaut as well as from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin, before two of Respighi's colourful masterpieces: Pines and Fountains of Rome.

On New Year's eve Temirkanov conducts the ball at the Yusupov Palace, while Alexander Dmitriev conducts the St Petersburg Symphony in traditional Strauss dynasty waltzes, polkas and other dances.

Svetlana Zakharova, principal of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, dances a programme with her fellow Bolshoi soloists on 29 December, while the Eifman Ballet brings its new ballet The Seagull after Chekhov (4 January) and the Obraztsov Puppet Theatre of Moscow gives a performance of An Extraordinary Concert (3 January). Jazz lovers have saxophonist Igor Butman with his Big Band to look forward to on 2 January.

There are three other concerts. The St Petersburg Philharmonic, this time conducted by Nikolai Alexeev, couples a first half of Glazunov, including the Solemn Overture and Julia Fischer as soloist in the Violin Concerto, with Greig's Piano Concerto (4 January). The Bolshoi Theatre orchestra and chorus is conducted by Alexander Vedernikov in Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody with Nikolai Lugansky and Prokofiev's cantata, Alexander Nevsky (5 January), followed by an Orthodox Christmas concert on 6 January, featuring prizewinners of XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition.