From 4 to 8 October, Russian Spiritual Culture Days will take place in the cities of Vranje, Pirot, Niš, Aleksinac, Belgrade, and Sremski Karlovci in Serbia.
As the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova noted, “the peoples of Russia and Serbia have been linked for centuries by a shared history, culture, and traditional values of Orthodoxy. It is important that under the circumstances of current international turbulence, these relations are not only maintained, but are developing.”
The concerts by the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble “Rossiya” named after Liudmila Zykina will become the central event of the Russian Spiritual Culture Days in Serbia. The Ensemble’s concerts will take place in five cities across the country: Vranje (4 October, Bora Stanković Theatre), Pirot (5 October, House of Culture), Niš (6 October, Saint Sava Center), Aleksinac (7 October, Center for Culture and Arts), and Sremski Karlovci (8 October, Vidikovac Cultural Center). The program will feature classical works by Soviet and foreign composers, Russian folk songs, including those from Lyudmila Zykina’s repertoire, and some compositions which will surprise the audience. Laureates of international competitions Timur Galinurov, Vladimir Dunayev, and Luiza Nurieva, as well as guest soloists Daria Sikalskaya and Ilya Khardikov, will perform for Serbian audiences.
“The “Rossiya” ensemble has a long-standing friendship with Serbia and toured a lot here. Therefore, we can say with confidence that we are visiting friends. In our program, we want to reflect our special relationship with this country,” says Dmitry Dmitrienko, artistic director of the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble “Rossiya” named after Liudmila Zykina.
On 8 October, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, the University of Arts in Belgrade will host master classes by musicians from the V. Berlinsky String Quartet. The participants of this young ensemble, renowned in Russia and abroad, are award-winning musicians, graduates of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory: Dennis Gasanov (first violin), Pavel Romanenko (viola), Mikhail Kalashnikov (cello), and a graduate of the M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov State Music and Pedagogical Institute Fyodor Kalashnikov (second violin). The Quartet’s repertoire includes works from the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as works by contemporary composers.
On the same day, a photo exhibition Kizhi: A Reborn Masterpiece of Russia by the Kizhi State Historical, Architectural, and Ethnographic Museum-Reserve will open in Sremski Karlovci. The exhibition celebrates the completion of the restoration of the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on Kizhi Island—the largest, most complex, and most harmonious traditional wooden building in the world. The photos were taken by a renowned photographer Igor Georgievskiy.
The soloists of the Sretensky Monastery Choir will hold a master class for students at the Theological Seminary. In the evening, the Choir will give a concert for the city’s residents. The concert program will include iconic works of Russian sacred music, as well as music by secular composers.
The Sretensky Monastery Choir has preserved the traditions of Russian liturgical chant for over six hundred years. Symbolizing conciliarity and unity, embodying the ideals of professional excellence, it has become one of the most famous and internationally recognized symbols of modern Russian spiritual and cantatory culture.
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Russian Spiritual Culture Days is a unique multi-genre project of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, aimed at promoting the spiritual and moral values of the Russian people and the treasures of Russian culture and art in foreign countries. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Russian Orthodox Church. The project organizer is the Autonomous Non-profit Organization “Russian Seasons.”
Since 2008, events of Russian Spiritual Culture Days have been held in nearly 50 countries.
