September 2015

In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history --- almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943–1944. Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied, eulogized and commemorated his fellow citizens --- the Leningrad Symphony, which came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory.