The festival will for the first time present an extensive programme of regional concerts in 9 Russian cities - the Great Novgorod, Vologda, Vladimir, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, St Petersburg, Ryazan, Tver and Yaroslavl.
Among its participants are world renowned Russian and foreign musicians: the symphony orchestra and choir of the Mariinsky Theatre under the direction of Valery Gergiyev, the choir and orchestra of ancient instruments Collegium Vocale Gent under the direction of Philipp Hervegg (Belgium), Yury Bashmet (viola), Leonidas Kavakos (violin, Greece), Vladimir Feltsman (piano), Viktoria Mullova (violin), Lang Lang (piano, China), Alexander Toradze (piano), and many others.
The repertory basis of festival programmes will be Russian music represented in the wider context of European musical culture. The billboards for the festival, in addition to major Russian composers - Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Rakhmaninoff - also feature the names of Ravel and Sibelius. Pride of place in the programme is given to Sergei Prokofieff - the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre will present all the composer's seven symphonies which are performed very rarely in one cycle. Within the framework of a cycle of Days of Bach in Moscow concerts, performers will turn to that composer's legacy.
The 3rd festival programme will include more than 70 concerts, including the traditional performance by the Mariinsky Theatre orchestra on May 9 on Poklonnaya Hill as part of a charity programme.
The festival will again show a choral programme with the participation of the well-known collectives from Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Slovenia and Serbia in the capital's major churches and concert halls. As part of the Bell Ringing Week there will be concerts of chimes music in the squares of the main Moscow churches.
In the course of the Easter week, festival participants will give charity concerts in children's music schools and in city hospitals and veterans' homes.
Launched in May 2002 on the initiative of the Moscow government and blessed by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, the Moscow Easter Festival carries on the tradition of paschal music forums held throughout the world.
