Saint Petersburg State Academic Capella

The Academic Capella on the Moika Embankment is a concert institution that brings together the country's oldest professional choir, a symphony orchestra, and a hall with some of the finest acoustics in Europe. The complex of buildings where the Capella works today is far more than a concert venue — it is a place with nearly five centuries of history in Russian choral art, one that has lived through several changes of state and preserved its status as one of the city's principal musical centers.

The ensemble's lineage traces back to 1479, when, by decree of Grand Prince Ivan III, a choir of sovereign's singing deacons was formed in Moscow — that same year these singers took part in the consecration of the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin. Under Peter the Great, following the transfer of the capital, the choir moved to the new city on the Neva and in 1713 became part of the newly organized Court Choir. The ensemble's status and repertoire changed with the times: in the early 19th century the Capella's director was granted the right to censor publications of Russian sacred music, and from 1846 the institution opened conducting classes that trained directors for church choirs.

The building's present appearance took shape in 1886–1889, when the architect Leontiy Benois completely rebuilt the complex the Capella had inherited back in 1810. He united the disparate structures on an awkward wedge-shaped plot under a single façade design, incorporating into the ensemble an older mansion by the architect Yuri Felten. Special attention was paid to the concert hall: the floor and ceiling were constructed on the principle of a violin's soundboard, and the coffered ceiling was suspended from the roof's metal truss structure — the hall noticeably widens from the stage toward the balconies, which accounts for its outstanding acoustics. The hall's frieze commemorates the names of seven figures of Russian church singing, including Bortniansky and Glinka, who taught at the Capella for many years alongside Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov.

The 20th century brought serious trials to both the building and the ensemble. In 1920 women's voices were introduced into the choir for the first time, which had previously consisted only of men and boys. In September 1941 an aerial bomb destroyed the Capella's Tsar's Pavilion, which was restored only in 2000 from surviving drawings and photographs. Part of the choir school's students evacuated in 1944 formed the basis of a new educational institution in Moscow, and ten years later the Capella itself was given the name of Mikhail Glinka.

Today the Capella unites the choir with a symphony orchestra founded in 1991, and the concert hall on the Moika hosts both classical programs and premieres of contemporary works. An organ installed in 1928, brought here from a Dutch church, complements the hall's historic appearance.

More than five centuries after its founding, the Capella remains a living symbol of the continuity of Russian choral tradition — from the singing deacons of medieval Moscow to a present-day concert ensemble of world renown.