Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony: Barcelona Symphony Orchestra

About the Event

Tonight Russian conductor Vassily Sinaisky visits Barcelona to conduct Shostakovich's Seventh, the symphony dedicated to Leningrad, which was composed while the city was still under siege by the Germans.

The work was composed 75 years ago, while Shostakovich and his family were in Leningrad, suffering the siege and hearing news of endless death and destruction. They were evacuated to Moscow, but in August 1942 there was a performance in the same city when the siege had still not been lifted. The Germans tried to prevent the performance by bombing the theatre, but they did not manage to stop the orchestra. Meanwhile, it had already begun to be performed in the United States and had become a symbol of the struggle of the Soviet people against fascism.