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The official opening ceremony of the international cultural project Russian Seasons in France took place on January 16, 2020 at the famous Odeon theater in Paris.
The Odeon Theater is one of three theaters that bears the honorary title of Theater of Europe, along with the Piccolo Theatro di Milano and the Maly Drama Theater. The evening included a premiere performance of Uncle Vanya based on the same-name play by the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov. This production, directed by one of the head-liners of modern French directing, Artistic director of the Odeon Theater Stefan Braunschweig, was presented by the prominent Russian theater company – the Theater of Nations under the direction of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Evgeny Mironov.
The Russian Seasons project in 2020 envisaged more than 400 events.
Prior to the introduction of restrictive measures, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, by the Governments of Russia, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, 117 events took place, including: a tour of the Leonid Yakobson Ballet Theater, the exhibition The Magic of Watercolor by Sergei Andriyaka, concerts by a Russian pianist Rem Urasin and a violin virtuoso Vadim Repin, a tour of the GITIS theater and more.
Due to the epidemiological situation and the cancellation of public Russian Seasons events, an online service Stay home with Russian Seasons was launched on March 23, 2020.
The project was designed as a free media library for video materials of the Russian Seasons participants, aiming at continuation of the Russian Seasons series of events, despite introducing restrictive measures, and provided access to Russian cultural content for foreign and Russian audiences. Streamings of symphonic music concerts, dance and theater productions from leading Russian companies and cultural institutions took place every week.
All streamings at Stay Home with Russian Seasons were accompanied by French or English subtitles.
A symbol of the revival of the project after a pause in 2020, caused by coronavirus restrictions, was the traditional ceremony of dressing the famous statue Manneken Pis in Brussels in a stylized version of the Russian guardsman’s costume, which took place on June 12, 2021, on Russia Day.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of municipal authorities, as well as the Russian Ambassador to Belgium Alexander Tokovinin.
Within the framework of the Russian Seasons in Belgium and with the support of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Brussels, the choir of the State Academic Chapel of St. Petersburg under the direction of People’s Artist of the USSR Vladislav Chernushenko gave concerts in the country’s four largest Catholic cathedrals. The concerts were attended by more than 3,000 spectators from Europe and Russia and covered all regions of Belgium: Brussels, Flemish and Walloon.
In December, the Bozar Fine Arts Center in Belgium hosted a series of concerts by soloists of the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra and by the Mariinsky Stradivarius Ensemble, the latter conducted by maestro Valery Gergiev.
