MOSCOW, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - The 4th Easter Arts Festival has gotten underway in the Russian capital. This year's festival is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Russia's victory over the Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
Speaking at the opening gala in the city's Music House Sunday, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov pointed out that the festival had started out as a Moscow affair, but that by now it had expanded into the provinces. This time around, for example, Orenburg, Chelyabisnk, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Omsk, and a number of other provincial cities will be among its venues along with the capital.
The Easter Festival will be running for eleven days, during which over ninety concerts and recitals are to be held across the country, announced Mikhail Shvydkoi, head of the Federal Agency for Culture and the Arts.
The concerts will feature performers of top caliber, including the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra, cellist Yuri Bashmet, violinist Nikolai Tsnaider, and the Cologne Chamber Choir, to give just a few examples.
The Easter Festival is a brainchild of Valeri Gergiyev, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, in St. Petersburg.
A number of charity concerts will be held this week at the University of Moscow, as well as at hospitals and community centers.
As always, church bell ringing will be one of the festival's highlights. Some of the best bell ringers from cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vologda, and Yaroslavl will perform in the capital's historical center and in St. Daniel's Monastery. On May 9, bells of many of Moscow's churches will be ringing in unison to commemorate the 60th V-E anniversary.
