Khabensky, Mironov, Bashmet, BRICS countries orchestra and others to perform in Sochi

The Yuri Bashmet Winter Arts Festival is held in Sochi annually for 18 years and combines various types in its program: theater, ballet, opera, as well as a wide genre range from academic and jazz music to rock, ethno and folklore.

The concerts are complemented by educational projects. The central one is the Yuri Bashmet International Academy - a complex of master classes, lessons and lectures by outstanding teachers and musicians.Among this year's participants: Ildar Abdrazakov, Evgeny Mironov, Konstantin Khabensky, Ilya Shakunov, Vadim Repin, Albina Shagimuratova, Denis Rodkin, Simona Kermes, Denis Matsuev, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, as well as Maestro Bashmet himself and three of his groups at once: Grammy Award winner, the Moscow Soloists chamber ensemble, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra and the unique All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra, the festival's press service reports.

The festival will open on February 12 with the play "Do not leave your planet" based on Exupery's story "The Little Prince" with Konstantin Khabensky in the title role. On February 15, the Winter Theater stage will host the production "The Living and the Dead. Soldiers are not born" based on the novel of the same name by Konstantin Simonov. The screening is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The play became the debut work of actress Polina Agureeva as a director, the main roles in it will be performed by Ilya Shakunov, Yuri Belyaev, Ivan Dobronravov, Nikolai Chindyaykin, Alexei Vertkov, Fedor Malyshev, Varvara Nasonova and others. Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble will become full-fledged participants in the performance. Foreign artists this year will be represented by groups and soloists, including those playing rare instruments, from Spain, Germany, Cuba, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Iran, UAE, Ethiopia, Egypt and other countries, many of whom will come to Russia for the first time. Special attention this year will also be paid to musicians from the BRICS countries.

Traditionally, the festival will become a platform for two competitions: the XI International Competition of Young Composers in memory of Alfred Schnittke and Sviatoslav Richter and the IV All-Russian Photography Competition "Argus-2024. Photography among the arts". Creative schools in poetry, journalism, photography and producing in the field of culture are planned, as well as events for children's projects and the X юбилейная International Conference for Heads of Cultural Institutions.

The concert program will take place at four main venues: in the Winter Theater, the Hall of Organ and Chamber Music, the Chaika Hall in the Sea Station building and in the Amphitheater cultural center in the Krasnaya Polyana resort.