“Golden piano” sounded in St. Petersburg

The "golden grand piano," a unique Steinway gifted by Emperor Alexander III to the Court Orchestra, was played publicly for the first time in 110 years at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. On October 2 and 15, the piano, created in a single copy and last heard in 1914, was featured in the "Solo for the Imperial Piano" concerts. St. Petersburg pianist and composer Nikolai Mazhara performed on the instrument, reviving its voice with a program of late works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Borodin, contemporary to the piano’s creation.

The piano, adorned with unique paintings, survived revolutions, wars, and the blockade. It had been housed behind the stage of the Grand Hall since the 1960s, previously in the Red Drawing Room, where the emperor's entourage waited. The Philharmonic, founded in 1921, was created in part to preserve the orchestra and its legacy.