YURI BASHMET WINTER INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL IN MOSCOW

“Moscow has always been my favorite city. Since we had we been touring Russia and arranging festivals for many years, I once thought that ignoring Moscow was unfair. Our Moscow festival program turned out to be very rich; it was also surprising in some ways even for us. When making a project like this, one always sets out to bring together something new, interesting, and much loved. A festival is not just a series of concerts; it offers the luxury of a warmhearted creative dialogue of the artists and the public.”

Yuri Bashmet

The Winter International Arts Festival under the artistic direction of Maestro Yuri Bashmet, People’s Artist of the USSR, is a special Moscow cultural event. The festival traditionally opens on January 24, the maestro’s birthday, to engage its visitors for three weeks in its rich program unfolding on the stages of Moscow’s best concert halls and theatres. The festival offers world premieres, classical music, plays, jazz, literary and musical meetings with famous theatre and film actors, as well as unique concerts by famous Russian and world musicians.

The festival events take place at the most popular Moscow music venues, including the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. These include the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Zaryadye Concert Hall, the Moscow International House of Music, the Gorky Moscow Art Theatre, the Moscow Sovremennik Theatre and the Bashmet Centre.

The first festival that took place in Moscow in 2020 immediately proved its importance for the cultural life of the Russian capital. It was for this reason that in 2021, despite the challenging epidemiological situation, it was decided to make the festival an annual event.

“It is exciting to realize that the festival is an annual one and that there will be the third one in 2022; this means that it lives and grows. We have remained true to the tradition set up at the first festival. This festival has made itself known as the festival of the arts, which is the most important and interesting thing for me today,” Yuri Bashmet is sure.

Invaluable support to the festival has been provided by the Government of the City of Moscow.

“This festival will be the jewel of Moscow cultural life; it will open the winter season, and, I am sure, will keep bringing us joy for many years to come.” Sergey Sobyanin, the Mayor of the City of Moscow

Maxim Vengerov, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, István Várdai, Nico Cook, Ksenia Bashmet, Igor Butman, Sergey Garmash, Konstantin Khabensky, Yevgeny Mironov, Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Mikhail Porechenkov, as well as three of Maestro Bashmet’s ensembles – the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, the Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra, and the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra – set the tone for the festival from the very start by giving the highest quality of performance.

The Moscow Festival is also the place where world premieres take place. These are musical compositions as well as musical performances commissioned by the festival to enjoy life later on other world stages. The festival’s musical performances include the choral opera “The Tale of Boris and Gleb” and the musical “A Rendezvous in Moscow,” widely enjoyed by the Russian spectators.

A special event of the festival is always Maestro Bashmet’s birthday concert.

The festival also includes chamber music concerts at the Bashmet Centre and master classes under the program “Yuri Bashmet to the Young Talents of Russia,” organized jointly with the European Festivals Association.