St. Petersburg to be "city of museums" on Thursday

Today St. Petersburg is to be "a city of museums".

On Thursday the Sheremetyev Palace /a branch of the Museum of Theatrical and Musical Arts /in the Northern capital /a metaphoric name for St. Petersburg/ will host the opening of the exhibition "Return to Motherland" devoted to the famous Russian composer, Alexander Glazunov. All exhibits at the exposition belong to the collection of Glazunov's Munich foundation, which after the death of Glazunov's daughter inherited the composer's property and passed it over to St. Petersburg and the city Museum of Theatrical and Musical Arts at the end of 2002. Up to now Russia has not had any memorial things connected with Glazunov's life.

Visitors of the exhibition will be able to see the composer's personal belongings and listen to his music, as for the opening the museum staff will prepare a musical programme including "Tannhauser's penitential song", a work by Glazunov that has never been performed anywhere before.

Another exhibition, "Discovered Treasures" devoted to two jubilees, St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary and 85th anniversary of the State Pavlovsk Museum, will exhibit works of art that have been accumulated in the museum funds in the last decade. The exposition will display over 300 paintings, drawings, works of arts and crafts, costumes, textile materials, metal goods and books. Among the most interesting exhibits there will be a portrait of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna made by master Kaulbach, a caricature of Catherine the Great - a lithography made from the original of the famous English artist Cruikshank in 1796 and candelabrums "Bulgarians" and "Turks" created by Yevgeni Lansere.

St. Petersburg also hosts the first concerts of the Eighth International festival of military brass bands. The festival will gather 20 best military brass bands from Russia, the CIS member-states, Europe, the USA, many of which will appear for the first time not only in St. Petersburg, but in Russia in general.