Your Music Is Served: St. Petersburg-Style Jaz

Music ranging from Dixieland and swing to bebop and symphonic jazz is performed annually in Russia’s Northern Capital. Interest in jazz in the city emerged as early as the 1920s, when the first professional ensembles—such as AMA-Jazz and the Leningrad Jazz Capella—were formed. The 1960s saw the opening of the country’s first jazz club, D-58, which became a true training ground for the St. Petersburg jazz scene. In the 1980s, the Jazz Music Philharmonic opened—marking the first time a dedicated philharmonic format for jazz was established in the USSR. Later, a museum dedicated to the history of Leningrad and St. Petersburg jazz—the only one of its kind in Russia—was created at the Philharmonic. Panelists will examine new project formats for developing the art of jazz, both within the Russian Federation and abroad.