INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE ROSTOV REGION
“It is wonderful to be able to come back every year to my hometown. To the city where I was born. To come there and meet my very own audience.”
Yuri Bashmet
Rostov-on-Don is the largest southern city of the Russian Federation. Founded in the mid-18th century, it has been playing an important role in Russian history and cultural life.
Rostov-on-Don is the birthplace of Maestro Yuri Bashmet. “I come from Rostov-on-Don. Although I left here at the age of five, I have many memories of it. It is my home city.”
The idea to hold a festival in Rostov-on-Don emerged in early 2013, when Maestro Bashmet was turning sixty. The festival was to lay down a tradition of holding annual concerts of outstanding Russian and world musicians in Rostov-on-Don. Thus, in 2013, a three-day long music festival took place in Rostov-on-Don, immediately attracting the attention of art lovers and becoming a significant cultural event for the city and the region. Eleven years later, it is now safe to say that the festival has been successfully fulfilling its mission.
Maestro Bashmet’s two ensembles, the Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, traditionally take part in the festival concert program as well as the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra (artistic director and chief conductor Valentin Uryupin).
Among the world-known artists annually giving concerts at the festival are violinists Viktor Tretyakov, Nikita Borisoglebsky, Boris Berezovsky, Alena Baeva (Russia), Mayu Kishima (Japan), pianist David Bismuth (France), cellists Alexander Buzlov and Konstanze von Gutzeit (Germany), flutist Massimo Mercelli (Italy), guitarist Evgeny Finkelstein (Russia), famous theatre and cinema actors Konstantin Khabensky, Mikhail Porechenkov, Grigory Siyatvinda, Igor Kostolevsky, and others.
The festival in Rostov-on-Don expands its geography and opens up to new cities. Festival concerts have taken place in Taganrog, Novocherkassk, Shakhty, Azov, Novoshakhtinsk, and other cities of the Rostov region.
In 2013, in addition to the music festival, Maestro Bashmet also founded the first regional educational center for profoundly gifted musicians at the Rostov Conservatory. Since then, the Yuri Bashmet Educational Centre has been actively developing; it hosts annual master classes by renowned Russian and world soloists. In 2018, the Yuri Bashmet Educational Centre in Rostov-on-Don hosted the first International Academy of String Instruments within the framework of the festival. The great success of the first academy and its high significance turned it into an annual event. This educational project is conducted on the basis of the grant from the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society, provided by the Presidential Grants Fund.