The Russian selection round for participants at the Bolshoi Festival has now begun

14 december 2017

The sixth “Bolshoi” Festival of Russian Music will take place in the village of Mećavnik (Mokra Gora National Park, Serbia) in July 2018, with Gazprom Neft acting as general sponsor, and talented young people from Russia and Serbia taking part. The Russian selection round will take place to 28 February 2018, with 13- to 25-year-old musicians from the Tyumen, Omsk, Tomsk and Orenburg Oblasts, and the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs invited to take part. The competition will be organised across four specialities — piano, strings, wind instruments and vocals. The key criteria on which the Selection Committee (headed by pianist and People’s Artist Yuri Rozum) will be judging the winners will be the mastery of their performance, as well as the complexity and originality of their repertoire.

Winners of the qualifying round will compete for the main “Bolshoi” prizes, in Serbia — the Golden, Silver and Bronze Matryoshkas. Masterclasses with famous musicians, concerts under the open sky, and engagement with other festival participants, also await them.

Young musicians from Russia’s regions have been taking part in the Festival for several years, thanks to the Gazprom Neft “Home Towns” corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

Alexander Dybal, Deputy CEO for Corporate Communications, Gazprom Neft, commented: “The 2018 Festival in Mokra Gora will be bigger and longer than usual, allowing us not just to increase the number of participants, but also to try out new concert formats. We invite young musicians from Russia’s regions to come together in one of Europe’s most original festivals. Participation in the qualifying round is an opportunity to test their strengths, demonstrate their talent, and prove themselves. And the winners, I have no doubt, will be able to represent our country commendably in the final part of the Festival in Serbia, as well as gaining pleasure from engaging with other participants and international star musicians.”

The Bolshoi Festival of Russian Music, under the leadership of film director Emir Kusturica, has taken place in the Serbian village of Drvengrad (or Mečavnik, alternatively) since 2013. Gazprom Neft has been the general sponsor of the festival since its inception. The key idea behind the festival is to support talented young people from music schools and academies throughout Serbia and Russia. The Festival’s main prizes are the Golden, Silver and Bronze Matryoshkas. The festival has seen world-famous music stars among its guests, including Valery Gergiev, Denis Matsuev, Nemanja Radulovič and others.

The “Home Towns” project brings together corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects and initiatives implemented by Gazprom Neft. The programme is directed at establishing infrastructure to support children’s and public sports facilities, as well as initiatives in education and health, as well as in supporting the cultural potential of the indigenous minorities of Northern Russia.

Tags: culture, social responsibility