"What an orchestra! The perfection of ensemble, technical virtuosity and sheer conviction of playing and conducting remind me of the great days of Eugene Mravinsky. Beautiful, polished playing dominates at the St Petersburg Camerata lay claim to being the world's finest chamber orchestra."
(Development, in Tune February/1995)

The orchestra was created as a student orchestra of the St Petersburg Conservatory by the outstanding conductor, professor Saulus Sondeckis - the People's Artist of the USSR, USSR State Prize winner, holder of the First Prize and a gold medal of the competition held by Herbert von Karajan Foundation.

Maestro Sondeckis, the founder of the famous Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, established this new ensemble using all his enormous conductor's experience, exquisite musical taste, creative boldness, ability for experiments and, at the same time, respect for the best traditions of orchestral music, the enchanting manner of performing , and high professionalism. It did not take a long time for the orchestra to become the finest ensemble in Russia.

On February 14, 1994, the orchestra was given a unique status of the orchestra of the State Hermitage, one of the celebrated world's museums.

St Petersburg Camerata successfully toured many European countries, the USA, Japan and South Korea. It participated in several universal festivals and recorded a few CD, including those recorded at the Sony Classical. Renowned musicians such as Lord Yehudy Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Victor Tretyakov, Sergei Stadler, Nikolai Gedda and others performed with the orchestra.