St. Petersburg Union of Composers

The St. Petersburg Union of Composers, (Soyuz Kompositorov- Russian: Союз композиторов) is a professional and creative musical association with its headquarters at the former mansion of the Princess Vera F. Gagarina at 45 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, St Petersburg, Russia. It is a Department of the Union of Composers of the Russian Federation, formerly the Union of Soviet Composers.

History

The St. Petersburg Union of Composers was founded in 1932. Amongst its members in its first decade of existence were composers including B.V. Asafyev, V.M. Bogdanov-Berezovsky, A.P. Gladkovsky, V.M. Deshevovov, A.F. Pashchenko, Oles' Semyenovich Chishko, Y.A. Shaporin, D.D. Shostakovich, and young musicians B.A. Arapov, B.G. Holz, I.I. Dzerzhinsky, Y.V. Kochurov, V.V. Pushkov, G.N. Popov, V.P. Solovyev-Sedoy, M.I. Chulaki.

Chairmen of the Union have been: the musicologist B.A. Fingert, as first chairman; V.V. Shcherbachev (1935–37, 1944–48), I.O. Dunaevsky (1937–43), D.D. Shostakovich (1946–47), Chulaki (1947–48), Solovyev-Sedoy (1948–64), A.P. Petrov (1964-2006) and Grigory Korchmar (from 2006). In 2003 the Petersburg Department of the Union of Composers had more than 210 members.

Location

In the 1930s, the Leningrad Department of the Union of Composers was located at 2 Rossi Street. It moved in 1948 to its present location at 45 Bolshaya Morskaya Street.