The program of the XII Winter International Arts Festival of Yuri Bashmet was finally announced

The winter season in Sochi can no longer be imagined without the Arts Festival, which every year becomes the largest cultural event in the “non-resort” period.

This year, during the festival, an extensive program of events is planned with the participation of Russian and foreign artists, musicians and ensembles. In addition to concerts and performances, Sochi will host music, vocal and theater academies, master-classes for young composers, sessions of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia, School of Young Journalists, School of Photographers, etc. For the first time, the Festival will host the School of Playwrights. The XII Winter Arts Festival will open on February 14 with a Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia Concert.

The Festival will be opened on 15th of February with “Don’t Leave Your Planet”. The show will be performed on the stage of the Zimniy Theatre for the fourth time. The show was created in 2016 jointly by the Winter International Festival and the Moscow “Sovremennik” Theatre, and has since preceded every Sochi festival. The director of the production is Victor Kramer.

The opening gala-concert will unite Jose Vicente Castello (French horn, Spain), Lore Binon (soprano, Belgium), Dae-jin Kim (piano, Republic of Korea), Yuri Bashmet (viola), Michaela Martin (violin, Germany), Frank Campos (trumpet, USA). The opening gala of the festival will feature world premieres by Valery Voronov, Patrick de Сlerk.

The jazz concert on 17th of Februaryn will feature two Grammy awards winner and famous American singer and pianist Diane Schuur.

An evening called “When the mountains meet the sea” will unite two male vocal ensembles “Rustavi” (Georgia) and “A Filette” (Corsica, France) on the stage of Zimniy Theatre on 17th of February.

The soloist of the National Ballet of Spain Sergio Bernal will be the guest of the traditional ballet evening on February 20th.

The national theatre of Taiwan “Wu-Theatre” (Taipei) will present a colorful performance “Sound of the Ocean” on February 22.

For the first time since 2014 another artistic experiment of the festival is going to be carried out – a project “Parallel worlds. Russian art, XX century. 2 part”. The project is going to join three art forms – poetry, music and painting, united by the timeframe of 1946-1956.

Continuing the leitmotiv of uniting folk and academic artists that was launched last year with the great almost 5-hour long concert, the world premiere of the choral opera of the contemporary composer Alexander Tchaikovsky will take place on 23 of February. The music piece was commissioned by the Festival.

Idil Biret (piano, Turkey), Nikolai Lugansky (piano), Yuri Bashmet (viola) and the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia will perform at the closing gala concert on February 24th.

Traditionally, the festival venues isn’t not only the Zimniy Theatre, but also the Organ and Chamber Music Hall.

The “Beethoven Marathon” consisting of four concerts and sonatas for piano, violin and cello will also take place.

The second Poet Tournament will take place on February 20th at the Organ Hall. The annual Composers Competition will take place on 22th of February. Also, the Organ and Chamber Music Hall will host gala concerts of the Departments of the International Music Academy, where the best young musicians from around the world will perform.

A special event of the 2019 Sochi festival will be a special guest program of the Territory festival. As part of this joint project, Sochi will host performances and films of the Territory festival, lectures and master classes.

Traditionally, the Winter Theater will host various children’s programs throughout the festival.