NOVGOROD THE GREAT, March 21 - RIA Novosti. Novgorod the Great, provincial centre in Russia's northwest, is starting today its 35th Russian Music festival. This year's event commemorates renowned composer Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), founding father of national classical music, on his birth bicentenary, report city State Philharmonic Society PR.
To last a bit longer than a month, into April 23, the festival will include guest performances of top-notch soloists and chamber and symphony orchestras from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and elsewhere in the country, 19th century Russian classics dominating the repertoire. The performers will appear not only in Novgorod but in small towns all about the host province.
St. Petersburg's celebrated Mariinsky Theatre symphony orchestra is expected to appear at the closing gala, brilliant Valeri Gergiev to conduct.
