6 Best Performing Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia

International soloists and ensembles gather for the festival, usually held late September through early October.

Another attractive event is the Musical Olympus festival organized by acclaimed Russian pianist Irina Nikitina at the Philharmonic in May and June. The festival assembles winners and laureates of each year's most respected musical contests from all over the globe. Each musician is handpicked by Nikitina herself or members of the festival's honorary committee. The audiences often get to see rising talents immediately after they've claimed the fame but haven't yet been booked for years to come.

The Palaces of St. Petersburg festival presents an impressive series of classical concerts in more than two dozen magnificent palaces and mansions year-round. In the heyday of Imperial Russia, the social season, with its grand balls, masquerades, and concerts, occurred in winter. During the stuffy summers the pillars of high society escaped the heat and dust of the city by heading to their country estates. A century later, St. Petersburg is trying to restore the glories of the past—minus the serfs.

Every year in July, the Peter and Paul Fortress hosts three days of performances of bands from Russia and beyond.

St. Petersburg's premier arts event stretches from the end of May until the middle of July or longer. The event's founder and driving force is the Mariinsky's indefatigable artistic director Valery Gergiev, who brings together a lineup of international stars and orchestras that other Russian festivals can only dream of inviting. It helps that Gergiev, a principal guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra, is a regular with the world's most acclaimed orchestras. The festival interweaves opera, ballet, symphony, and chamber music in almost equal proportions and provides a rare opportunity to see the Mariinsky's most renowned soloists—who spend most of their time between La Scala, Opera Bastille, and the Met and include mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina, tenor Vladimir Galuzin, bass Ildar Abdrazakov, baritone Nikolai Putilin, and soprano Anna Netrebko.

The brainchild of Yury Temirkanov, artistic director of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, runs between Western Christmas (December 25) and Russian Orthodox Christmas (January 7) and showcases classical concerts and ballets with top-notch international stars. The State Russian Museum organizes special exhibitions and hosts receptions for the festival.