Press releases
Belarus Events Calendar: APRIL 2023
Minsk tops CIS list of cities for virtual tours
Tour program ‘Loshitsa Estate in the 19th - early 20th centuries’
Loshitsa Estate, one of the most popular sights of Minsk, invites you to go on a musical journey. During the tour of the estate, visitors will not only see the stylized interiors of the estate in which the eminent owners Eustachy Prushinsky, Ivan and Eustachy Lyubansky lived, but also learn about their fates, habits, way of life, and secrets that the walls of the estate keep. Musical program for the tour will feature the polonaise of the diplomat and composer Michal Kleofas Oginski "Farewell to the Motherland", Napoleon Orda’s piece "Serenade", a piece from the collection "Polotsk Notebook", the works of the German Johannes Brahms and Russian composer-philosopher Alexander Scriabin.
When: every Sunday at 15.00 and 17.00
Where: Loshitsa Estate museum, 10 Chizhevskikh Proezd, Minsk
Rhythms of Africa program in the Belarusian State Circus
The Belarusian State Circus will launch the exotic program on 4 February: this time viewers will undertake a journey from the winter Minsk to the heart of the hot African continent! They will see new countries, get acquainted with the indigenous people, learn about their talents, abilities, hobbies and ways of life in a hot climate. Artists are winners of prestigious circus festivals and competitions in Monte Carlo (Monaco), Spain, France, Latin America.
When: 2 February – 23 April
Where: Minsk, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Vitebsk
Exhibition project ‘AI: Artist or Machine?’ in Minsk
For the first time in Belarus, Minsk will host an art exhibition fully created with the use of technologies of the future. The innovative exhibition includes more than 90 pieces in 10 categories exploring the universe as nature, mythology, history, architecture... The project will culminate with the immersive film "Digital Evolution", which is a figurative rethinking of the world of ideas and the world of matter, a free artistic reflection on development and evolution. The organizers of the exhibition also offer a thematic quest and unusual photo zones for fans of insta-aesthetics.
When: 4 February – 9 April
Where: National Center for Contemporary Arts, 47 Nezavisimosti Avenue, Minsk
Flax festival in Minsk
Flax is one of the most recognizable symbols of Belarus, and its delicate blue flowers are depicted on the state emblem. Belarus is among the world's top ten largest flax fiber producing countries. Flax is grown in 36 regions of the country. In 2022, the sown area of flax amounted to 44,300 hectares. The first big flax festival will be held in the Belarusian capital in 2023 to showcase new products from Belarusian flax processing plants and famous brands of light industry. “Flax Festival. Rodnaye Modnaye” will be a continuation of the Rodnae Modnaye project which was presented in six Belarusian cities as part of the second season of the nationwide festival Vytoki. A Step Towards Olympus and also at the international exhibition of light industry BelTexIndustry 2022. The festival will celebrate the best clothes designers, textile artists and authors of art objects made of flax. The festival program will also include training seminars, workshops, exhibitions and tastings.
When: 30 March-1 April
Where: Dinamo National Olympic Stadium, 8 Kirova Street, Minsk
International Festival of Ancient and Contemporary Chamber Music
One of Belarus’ most unusual festivals will mark its 35th anniversary under the arches of St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk. The festival promises an original program to connoisseurs of traditional and contemporary music. On the evening of 7 April, musicians from the piano trio CON ANIMA will perform Paris Sketches to the melodies of Claude Debussy, Germaine Tailleferre and Philippe Gaubert. The festival will continue on 9 April with the Ave Maria concert featuring organist Ksenia Pogorelaya and soloist Tamara Remez. On 13 April the audience will hear the performance by the chamber orchestra of the Sonorus music chapel. On 16 April organist Valentina Maister, soloists Maria Litke (soprano) and Vyacheslav Lebedev (horn) will perform the Easter Chime. The music festival will wrap up with a church music concert by the Grigory Shirma Choir. This concert will be a tribute to the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
When: 21 March – 20 April
Where: St. Sophia Cathedral, 1 Zamkovaya Street, Polotsk
Exhibition “Khatyn. The 80th anniversary of the tragedy” at the National Art Museum
This tragedy happened 80 years ago: on 22 March 1943, Nazi punitive brigades ransacked and burned to the ground the Belarusian village of Khatyn together with all its inhabitants. The fire killed 149 people, including 75 children under 16. Unfortunately, Khatyn was not the only Belarusian village that had such a terrible fate. During the occupation in 1941-1944, more than 600 villages were burned down together with people, and 216 of them were never restored. The memorial in Khatyn has become a symbol of grief for the victims of the Nazi genocide during the Great Patriotic War - burned villages, innocent civilians - women, elders, children ...
The exposition dedicated to Khatyn Tragedy Remembrance Day features more than 30 works created by three generations of Belarusian artists. Among them are a monumental series of color lithographs In Memory of Burned Villages (1979-1985) by People’s Artist of Belarus Professor Vasily Sharangovich, sketches of everyday life on the front-line Traces of the War by artist Boris Malkin (1942-1944), etchings of the Old Ruditsa series (1982) by Anatoly Aleksandrovich, the Burned Village pictorial diptych (1984) by Grigory Tobolich, the Khatyn cycle (2022) by Vsevolod Shvaiba, graphic works by the authors of the Khatyn Memorial Complex - architects Leonid Levin, Yuri Gradov and Valentin Zankovich.
When: 22 March – 24 April
Where: National Art Museum of Belarus, 20 Lenina Street, Minsk
“Music without borders. The 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff” at the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus
1 April will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff, an outstanding composer, pianist, and conductor. Having embraced the best of impressionism and avant-garde his music became the symbol of the 19th century. It communicated the composer’s manifesto saying that music should be loved, should come from the heart and be addressed to the heart. In addition to the composer’s anniversary, the spring of 2023 marks 130 years of the premiere of his first opera Aleko and 115 years of Symphony No. 2. The centerpiece of the anniversary concert will be Symphony No. 2 that will be performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus under the baton of Maestro Alexey Bogorad (Moscow). The concert will also feature pieces from the opera Aleko, classical Russian romances by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, music by Mikhail Glinka and Georgy Sviridov. The concert will star People’s Artists of Belarus Anastasia Moskvina and Vladimir Gromov, laureate of international competitions Anastasia Mikhnovets, People’s Artist of Belarus Irina Yeromkina, laureate of international competitions Veronika Grabovskaya (harp).
When: 1 April
Where: Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus, 1 Paris Commune Square, Minsk
International tourism expo Leisure 2023
The 25th edition of the international tourism expo Leisure 2023 will bring together the leading market players from across the entire spectrum of the tourism industry: event tourism and industrial tourism, medical and culinary tourism, sports tourism, etc. Key themes of the tourism fair will be transportation and travel safety, education and training, digital technologies and new tourism brands. During the three-day event, more than 100 exhibitors will flaunt their programs, offers and services. These will be travel agencies, sanatoriums, farmsteads, medical and SPA centers, hotels and country complexes, as well as insurance and transport companies. Visitors will be able to study offers of Belarusian travel agencies across various types of tourism activity.
When: 13–15 April
Where: National Exhibition Center BelExpo, 14 Pobeditelei Avenue, Minsk
Premiere at Bolshoi Theater: Don Quixote Ballet
One of the world’s most popular ballets, Don Quixote, mesmerizes with amazing Spanish dances and picturesque scenes from Cervantes. Ludwig Minkus' masterpiece (which is over 150 years old!) has seen six productions on the main stage of Belarus. They featured legendary dancers Semyon Drechin, Tamara Karavaeva, Alexandra Nikolaeva, Valery Mironov. The story of the lovers Kitri and Basilio is making a comeback with new costumes and sets to delight the connoisseurs with its intertwining choreography from Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky, Kasyan Goleizovsky, and Valentin Elizariev. The ballet will feature Lyudmila Khitrova, Irina Yeromkina, Viktoria Trenkina, Alina Rudenko, Konstantin Geronik, Dmitry Uksusnikov, Konstantin Belokhvostok, and Alexander Misiyuk in the lead roles.
When: 16 and 17 April
Where: Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, 1 Parizhskaya Kommuna Square, Minsk
Strylka spring rite
The spring rite Strylka, included in the list of historical and cultural values of Belarus, got this name based on its resemblance to a bowstring. It is traditionally celebrated in the Holy Trinity Church in Bezdezh, and later in the farmstead of the Bezdezh Apron Folk Art Museum. The rite involves a round dance symbolizing the end of Lent and the arrival of the long-awaited spring. That is why its celebration coincides with one of the major holidays of the Orthodox calendar - Easter. Only women and girls take part in the rite: the elders ‘start’ the song and lead the round dance, while girls aged 4-14, called ‘grains’, make groups of three in the center to symbolize the future harvest. In its movement, the round dance resembles the hand of the clock, which in Christianity means the rapid flight of time and an invisible link with ancestors.
When: 16 April
Where: the agro-town of Bezdezh, Drogichin District, Brest Oblast
Walking the Sula rite
On the day following Easter the two villages in Gomel District - Gadichevo and Markovichi – host an original folk rite Walking the Sula, which was revived in 2007. Sula is a festive procession of local residents (the rite originated on the territory of Eastern Polesie) who bid farewell to spring and welcome summer with its plowing season. According to beliefs, the rite ensures a bountiful harvest and protects from diseases and forces of nature, in particular from lightning arrows. That is why the rite is also known under the name ‘Walking the Arrow’. Following the Easter service at St Catherine Church in the village of Gadichevo, the rite participants - women and girls - go to the field and make round dances ‘calling’ for soil fertility. After that, singing ritual songs, they head for the village of Markovichi, where the festival culminates in entertainment and Easter refreshments.
When: 17 April
Where: the villages of Gadichevo and Markovichi, Gomel District
Belarusian telecommunications forum TIBO
TIBO is the largest information and communication technology event in Belarus. At the forum national and foreign experts, representatives of the government bodies and the business community will analyze the global ICT development trends, present innovative developments in information technology and opportunities for their effective application in different fields of activity. The business program will feature such events as the 5th Eurasian Digital Forum (EADF), the 3rd Digital Economy Forum (DEF), the 6th Belarusian ICT Summit (ICT Summit), the 5th International Conference “Personnel for Digital Transformation”, the 3rd International Conference “Digital Technologies and Solutions for ‘Smart Regions/Cities”, and the round table “Models and Methods of Effective Management of Digital Development”. The forum will also host an awards ceremony of the 20th TIBO Internet Award, the startup competition “Belarus ICT Startup Award”, the selection stage of the 6th International Scratch-Olympics in creative programming among school students, STEM competitions in robotics RTC-Minsk Cup and RTC-Belarus Cup.
When: 18-21 April
Where: Minsk Arena, 111 Pobeditelei Avenue, Minsk
Easter Egg festival in Sopotskin
The Easter Egg festival, which has already become a trademark of the village of Sopotskin, invites visitors to its colorful spring feast for the 7th time to enjoy its creative atmosphere, learn more about the Belarusian folk traditions of Easter egg painting. The local technology of Easter egg making is included in the list of historical and cultural values of Belarus as an element of intangible heritage. In Sopotskin you can visit the Easter Egg Museum, which displays more than 1,500 eggs decorated in various techniques, take part in Easter egg painting workshops, enjoy ancient songs performed by singers of Grodno District.
When: 23 April
Where: 17 Grodnenskaya Street, the village of Sopotskin, Grodno Oblast
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