Tchaikovsky is a name that resounds regularly in St. Petersburg and there might seem no need to draw additional attention to it. But, if you take a closer look, you will see that the legacy of the great composer is rarely heard outside academic halls. The purpose of the new Tchaikovsky.spb.ru festival is precisely to change this, to boost interest in this composer of genius among young people. In 2019, the festival will be held from October to December already for the third time. The project will be organised by the Tchaikovsky Centre of Musical Culture together with the European Foundation for Support of Culture. The festival is supported by the Committee for Culture of the Government of St. Petersburg.
The main purpose of the festival is to draw young people to Tchaikovsky’s music, to develop creative initiatives at the intersection between genres and trends and to erase prejudices about the “academic inaccessibility” of classical art. Performers from Russia, Italy, Estonia, China, Armenia, Belarus and other countries will take part in concerts, exhibitions, music, poetry, composition and art contests dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s legacy. Jazz, folk interpretations, classics, romances, contemporary graphics, historical posters, medallion art, excursions, poetry, choreography and musical theatre: the sparkling facets of the 2019 festival are innumerable. The events within the Festival are a treasury of sound, colour, creative discovery and emotion.
The festival’s programme included concerts by such world-famous musicians from Russia as cellist Boris Andrianov, winner of the International Piano Competition in Zagreb and the International Tchaikovsky Competition; violinist Haik Kazazyan, winner of many international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky Competition; Sergey Eletsky, winner of the ARD International Competition in Munich, soloist of the Russian National Orchestra; and Philipp Kopachevsky, soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and winner of international piano competitions. The musicians were accompanied by the St. Petersburg State Governor’s Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maxim Alexeev.
The Artistic Director of the Festival – Merited Performer of Russia Alexey Vasiliev; the Festival’s Director – Lana Klevtsova.