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In the Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod they were organizing the country's biggest music festival, named after the great physicist and human right campaigner Andrei Sakharov. And with good reason too, because Sakharov once worked in here developing the Soviet hydrogen bomb only to be exiled here decades later, for actively advocating human rights and resisting Leonid Brezhnev's domestic and foreign policies. The fascinating concerts organized by the philharmonic society in Nizhny Novgorod, then Gorky and off limits to foreigners, was Sakharov's only escape from the grim realities of his banishment. Now that this great man was gone, they were holding a Sakharov music festival which featured leading musicians from Russia, Lithuania, Georgia, France, Austria and the United States playing modern and classical pieces, above all, Mozart whom Andrei Sakharov loved so much…
The Sakharov festivals have since been regularly held in Nizhny Novgorod bringing in the veritable who's who of classical music from around the world.
In December the Conservatory Small Hall in Moscow was playing host to Russia's first ever festival of instrumental quartets bringing together leading outfits from Russia, Georgia, France and the United States. All hats were off to the joint performance of the American Fine Arts Quartet and Moscow's very own Borodin String Quartet.
Classical, modern and folklore musicians from Asia and the Pacific were taking part in a ten-day festival held in Krasnoyarsk, Central Siberia. Ethnic groups from Buryatiya, Yakutia and Tuva impressed the audience with their fascinating uniqueness…
In the Volga city of Yaroslavl, Russian bell ringers were holding their own festival giving this traditional, albeit long-suppressed, art a new lease on life…
In St.Petersburg, young prodigies from around the nation showcased their skills in a Virtuosi 2000 festival, among them the city's very own 11 year-old cellist Dmitry Maslennikov...
In April the first Chopin junior competition started in Moscow. Frederic Chopin was the darling of the Russian pianists who have invariably scored well participating in the main Chopin festivals in Warsaw, Poland. More than forty young performers from eleven countries were taking part with the top award going to Russia's 15 year old pianist Ram Urasin - an inspired romantic who bore such a striking resemblance to the great 19th century Polish composer…
A few years later, Ram Urasin also won the Chopin competition among adults in Warsaw…
The Tchaikovsky competition for juniors opened in Moscow in June - an offshoot of the world-famous competition of the same name which had regularly been held in Russia since 1958. Unlike its adult namesake with its four competition categories, this one offered prizes in only the piano and violin. More than a hundred young performers were taking part in the new competition…
In the piano department, the top prize went to the 15 year-old Muscovite Alexander Mogilevsky, the son of the famed pianist Yevgeny Mogilevsky.
The violin contest was carried by America's Jennifer Cough who, only two years later, also won the main Tchaikovsky competition…
In March the famous operatic diva Galina Vishnevskaya was marking her 45th professional birthday with a gala concert on the stage of Moscow's Bolshoi Theater where she had sung for nearly 20 years. Vishnevskaya quit her stint with the Bolshoi in 1974 when she and her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich, emigrated from the Soviet Union. Stripped of their Soviet citizenship in 1978, they decided never to get back again. 13 years on, Galina Vishnevskaya said that, as a true Christian, she had forgiven everyone who had ever did her harm…
Receiving congratulations from Presidents Boris Yeltsin, George Bush, royalties from around Europe and the world's leading performers, Vishnevskaya didn't sing that night. She had wisely quit the stage at the very height of her career depriving her ill-wishers of any chance to see her less than her usual perfect. The concert opened with an excellent recording Vishnevskaya made years before…
In another celebration, the prominent Moscow composer Rodion Shchedrin marked his 60th birthday with a major festival showcasing his symphonies and chamber pieces. The Bolshoi Theater offered all of Shchedrin's ballets featuring, among others, the composer's famous wife, Maya Plisetskaya.
In St.Petersburg, conductor Valery Gergiyev launched his famous promenade-concerts at the Mariinsky Theatre he led. The Maestro was doing this to familiarize the general public with symphonic masterpieces, bring ticket prices down thus attracting the less affluent intellectuals and also to improve the performing quality of the house orchestra. As it happened, he achieved all these goals just fine...
Meanwhile, jazz musicians, busily forming more knowledgeable audiences, organized a major Jazz on the Pacific festival in Vladivostok…
On the pop scene, Oleg Gazmanov was creating a very big stir... Formerly known as the author of cute girl-meets-boy songs successfully performed by his sweet-singing son Rodion, Oleg eventually made up his mind to try singing himself. In virtually no time, Gazmanov's solid lyrics, banal melodies and pretty lackluster vocals strangely combined to make him the darling of millions of pop fans all around the nation. The strong backing offered him by Moscow's powerful Mayor Yuri Luzhkov opened Oleg the way to major venues in Moscow and then elsewhere in Russia …
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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