From October 14 to October 19, the VIII International Music Festival will be held in Chelyabinsk and the cities of the Southern Urals under the artistic leadership of Yuri Bashmet, People’s Artist of the USSR, Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation.

The Yuri Bashmet Festival in the Southern Urals is one of the youngest projects of Yuri Bashmet. This is a truly special festival with an absolutely different creative face. Just thinking about his festival in the Urals, the maestro looked at the cities of the region for a long time, and chose Chelyabinsk as a city with an extremely actively developing cultural life.

“I have a lot of festivals. But Chelyabinsk is very special and very dear to me,” Yuri Bashmet said.

In particular, Yuri Bashmet has a warm relationship with the Chelyabinsk Region State Symphony Orchestra and its artistic director Alexei Rubin, who has also been the second conductor of the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra conducted by the maestro for a long time. According to Yuri Abramovich, this appointment is a “great acquisition” for the South Ural team.

A unique institution of the region also deserves special attention: the Children’s Philharmonic. Visiting talented musicians with a creative meeting, as well as master classes by the concertmasters of the Moscow Soloists Chamber ensemble and the maestro himself are an invariable part of every festival. Moreover, it was Yuri Bashmet’s active collaboration with the Children’s Philharmonic that led to the creation of the local branch of the All—Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Chelyabinsk Region Children’s and Youth Symphony Orchestra.

And it is not surprising that in such a short period of its existence, the festival was able not only to establish itself in the cultural environment, but also to form its own festival atmosphere. The events of the festival invariably attract the attention of both ordinary viewers and representatives of the cultural elite and the media.

“The Chelyabinsk audience is amazing. We all feel and see how everyone needs the festival here,” the maestro admits.

The geography of the cultural festival is constantly growing: more and more cities of the Chelyabinsk region are involved in a large-scale musical event, opening up the opportunity for local residents to join the high art. In particular, concerts of the festival have already been held in Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Miass, Zlatoust, Satka, Trekhgorny, Troitsk. This time, according to tradition, Chelyabinsk itself will become the center of the festival, but concerts of the festival will also be held in Magnitogorsk, Miass and Snezhinsk.

The festival program usually includes not only concerts, but also musical and theatrical productions. And among the participants there are not only famous stars who come to the Southern Urals specifically for the maestro festival, but also young talents who grow and develop with the festival.

Among the participants of this year’s festival: the famous actor Evgeny Mironov, violinists Pavel Milyukov and Valeria Abramova, Daria Egorova (cello), Fedor Osver (oboe), Ramil Baymukhametova (soprano). The traditional participant of the festival is the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble conducted by Maestro Bashmet.

This year’s festival concert program is almost entirely dedicated to the 185th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Unique Tchaikovsky Gala concerts will be held in all participating cities of the festival.: Snezhinsk, Miass, Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk University on October 14, 16, 17 and 18.

The concert program includes:
Andante from String Quartet No. 2, 3 pieces for violin and strings – “Melody”, Scherzo and “Russian Dance” (soloist – Valeria Abramova) and “Memory of Florence” for string orchestra. Snezhinsk listeners will be able to enjoy Lensky’s Aria from the opera “Eugene Onegin” arranged for oboe and strings (soloist – Fyodor Osver), and residents of other cities will be able to enjoy the piece Pezzo capriccioso for cello and strings (soloist – Daria Egorova).

The opening gala concert of the festival will be held on October 15 on the stage of the Chelyabinsk Philharmonic and will also be dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s music. The Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble conducted by Maestro Bashmet is on stage all evening. The soloists of the evening will be Pavel Milyukov (violin), Daria Egorova (cello), Fedor Osver (oboe), Ramil Baymukhametova (soprano).

The final chord of the festival on October 19 in the hall of the Chelyabinsk Philharmonic will be a musical and literary performance, which will be shown for the first time in the Southern Urals: “Van Gogh. Letters to my Brother” with the participation of Evgeny Mironov and the chamber ensemble “Soloists of Moscow” conducted by Yuri Bashmet.

In addition to the concert program, a large number of educational events will take place within the framework of the festival. There will be a creative meeting of Yuri Bashmet with the Children’s Symphony Orchestra of the Chelyabinsk region, classes with young talented musicians within the framework of the Yuri Bashmet Educational Center in the Chelyabinsk region.

The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Government and the Ministry of Culture of the Chelyabinsk region.

Source: https://t.me/russian_concert_agency