Press releases

MINSK, 30 August (BelTA) - The 13th Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival will open in the Belarusian State Philharmonic on 10 October, BelTA learned from the directorate of the festival.

The opening concert will feature Grammy award winners Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble under the baton of People's Artist of the USSR and Russia Yuri Bashmet. Soloists are violinist Vadim Repin, violist Yuri Bashmet and pianist Rostislav Krimer.

Outstanding musician Vadim Repin will play the unique violin Stradivarius, 1733, the Rode. This is one of the most expensive violins in the world, worth millions of dollars. The instrument with an amazing story has a truly unique sound. It will be especially interesting to hear it played by a prominent musician.

On the opening day of the festival the audience will be treated to a premiere of a concerto for viola and piano and orchestra dedicated to Yuri Bashmet and Rostislav Krimer. It will be premiered by the protagonists themselves. The piece is called Landscapes of Vanishing Memory (by Master Arnolt Shlik) written by Belarusian composer Valery Voronov. The concert will also feature Beethoven-Mahler Quartetto serioso in F minor, op.95; Mendelssohn Concerto No.1 for violin and orchestra in D minor; and Schubert - Mahler "Death and the Maiden".

A musical-theatrical production featuring journalist Vladimir Pozner, rock musician and poet Andrei Makarevich, world-renowned violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky will be shown in the Grand Hall of the Palace of the Republic on 12 October.

The 13th Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival is held in Minsk on 7-20 October. At the invitation of the artistic director of the festival Rostislav Krimer, the best halls of Minsk will host brilliant musicians from around the world.

The Yuri Bashmet International Music Festival is organized in line with the corresponding resolution of Belarus’ Council of Ministers with assistance of the Culture Ministry and the Minsk City Hall.