Seventh Winter Moscow Arts Festival by Yuri Bashmet Concludes

The seventh Winter International Arts Festival, under the artistic direction of People's Artist of the USSR Maestro Yuri Bashmet, has concluded in Moscow. It became the brightest event in the capital's cultural life. "It's joyful that every year we receive convincing proof that this festival is needed in our beloved city, that Muscovites and visitors to our capital love and eagerly await it. For me," Yuri Bashmet shared, "the festival in Moscow is very dear. And every year we strive to make it truly special, filling it with unique events. This year's program turned out very rich and somewhat unexpected even for us. In such a project, there's always a great desire and purpose to bring together something new, interesting, and beloved. The festival isn't just a series of concerts—it's also the luxury of human creative communion between artists and audiences," emphasized Maestro Yuri Bashmet.

Over the course of a month, fifteen concert evenings took place, featuring not only classical music but also performances, jazz, and literary-musical events with renowned theater and film actors. Three ensembles led by Maestro Bashmet—the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, the State Symphony Orchestra "New Russia," and the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra—set the festival's tone of the highest performance quality from the very first notes.

The Moscow festival also gave birth to world premieres: not only musical compositions but also musical theater pieces created specifically on commission for the festival, which then find life on other creative stages. Among the festival's landmark events was the music-drama performance based on Nikolai Leskov's novel Cathedral Folk: Scenes from Russian Life. As an artist, Leskov approached the mystery known as the "Russian soul." Leskov builds his system of values on eternal questions—what is truth and falsehood, good and evil, holiness and sin. "These questions concern us even now," believes Yuri Bashmet. "Leskov's word is a symbol of conciliar Russia."

A memorable project of the Winter Arts Festival was the concert-performance Poor Folk, directed by Murat Abulkatinov. This was a joint project of Yuri Bashmet with the Moscow Drama Theater named after N.V. Gogol. The lead role of Makar Devushkin was brilliantly performed by Evgeny Mironov. By the production's concept, correspondence with his beloved girl awakens his literary talent. All his passion is in the letters. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky held a special place in the staging. His elegies and waltzes, performed by the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble under Yuri Bashmet's direction, amplified the lyrical motifs of Dostoevsky's novel.

Original compositions from the Western classical school, featuring vivid Celtic motifs and fiery flamenco rhythms, supplemented by refined arrangements of works from the treasury of Sufi culture reflecting the rich traditions of the Arab East, Andalusia, and Turkey, were performed at the Winter Arts Festival by the Spanish ensemble "Al Firdaus" from Granada.

The premiere of the Winter Arts Festival was the performance About Love with the subtitle "5 Poods of Love, 22 Misfortunes, 33 Hysterics." Directed by Polina Agureeva and starring actors from the Moscow Workshop of Pyotr Fomenko Theater. Turning to Chekhov is always a conversation about humanity, the meaning of life, and almost always about love. This performance is an attempt at dialogue with Chekhov—not with any specific play or story, but with his complex, profound worldview and reflections on the eternal.

The seventh Winter International Arts Festival in Moscow concluded with a gala jubilee concert dedicated to the 80th birthday of the remarkable composer Alexander Chaikovsky. Composing music in the most diverse genres, he is convinced: "A composer should not confine himself to one musical direction"; on the contrary—"One must be able to do everything and be multifaceted." Almost every premiere of his new works becomes a major event in Russian cultural life. Many compositions were written specifically for Yuri Bashmet, with whom he shares over 40 years of creative friendship.

On February 13, at the festival's closing concert under Maestro Yuri Bashmet's baton, two grand vocal-symphonic works composed by Alexander Chaikovsky in the last decade were performed. These included the dramatic symphony The Tale of Igor's Campaign for reciter, solo alto as the embodiment of the soul's voice of the protagonist—Prince Igor—and symphony and folk orchestras. In the second part, the monumental choral opera The Tale of Boris and Gleb, Their Brothers Yaroslav the Wise and Sviatopolk the Accursed, the Wicked Robbers, and the Good Russian People was performed. Among the 200 performers were a symphony orchestra, a dramatic actor, academic and folk choirs, and even a plastic arts ensemble.

The final chords of the Seventh Winter International Arts Festival under the direction of People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Bashmet have just faded in Moscow, and on February 18, artistic director Maestro Yuri Bashmet will open his renowned 19th Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi.