ST. PETERSBURG, September 2. /TASS/. More than 8,000 musicians gathered at a stadium in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg on Sunday to play the national anthem, setting the world record, a spokesperson for the all-Russian ‘Anthem Day’ campaign, Kristina Korneyeva, told TASS.
"The orchestra gathered on the turf of the stadium, which was separated into 192 sections housing 8,097 musicians. The unique orchestra was recognized as a record and entered the Guinness Book of Records as "the biggest orchestra," surpassing the 2016 record set in Germany, during which 8,076 musicians gathered at the Commerzbank arena in Frankfurt," she said.
The orchestra comprised regional orchestras and bands from the 85 Russian regions. Together with the orchestra, about 20,000 people gathered to sing the Russian national anthem.
A respresentative of the Guinness Book of Records was invited to attest the record.
The event was held to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Russian anthem’s melody, marked this year. The melody, written by composer Alexander Alexandrov, was approved as the anthem of the Soviet Union in 1944.