Glimpse of History

The First Eurasian Festival is over, but it promised to come back….
The First Eurasian International Music Festival became the most prominent landmark event in the history of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic.

During three weeks, from September 6 through September 24, 2011, the festive events trod on each other’s heals: One concert followed after another; the program included meetings with festival participants and master classes. The number of stellar guests was fascinating. We were fortunate to listen to the finalists of two prestigious contests – the Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow) and Competizione del’opera (Dresden), to enjoy the world premieres – “A Thousand and One Nights in the Harem” by Alexander Tchaikovsky and “Chorale & Lamento” by René Koering; we tried to get tickets to the concert of pianist Denis Matsuev. We reveled in intellectual conversations over a cup of coffee and hung on every word our iconic celebrities said during the post-concert meetings complemented by black cherry pies.

Undoubtedly, the main participant of the newborn festival was the core group of the Philharmonic – the Ural Academic Philharmonic Orchestra. The festival welcomed symphony orchestras invited from other countries: the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia of the Nations Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. The musicians not only participated in performances, but also communicated during their free time, were enjoyable guests at joint parties and dinners, even played football.

The festival will be best remembered for its international scale, world premieres, stellar musicians, orchestras, broadcasting.
What about some details? Let’s try to count everything and everyone!

The First Eurasian International Music Festival translated into figures or our recollections…
– 19 days – the duration of the festival
– More than 500 musicians took part in the festival marathon. Half of them came from other countries
– Representatives of 20 countries demonstrated their talent in performing arts
– 14 concerts were held in the Grand Concert Hall and 2 concerts took place in the Chamber Concert Hall
– 32 hours of music in the main and off-programs
– 9,600 people came to the live music concerts
– 600 people fastened their eyes on the screens during the online broadcasting (Ekaterinburg accounted for the lion’s share of the audience, but the virtual concerts were listened to by residents and guests of St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Moscow, Kharkov, and even Germany and Israel)
– 41 signature black cherry pies were presented to guests of the festival
– 3 seven-liter buckets of coffee were made for the participants of the intellectual meetings – A Cup of Coffee with a Guest
– 83 paper cranes and one dove were made by children and the renowned violinist Sayaka Shoji during the White Cane charity concert
– 7 goals were scored by musicians of the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra during their match with the Munich Chamber Orchestra
– 6 interpreters helped guests overcome the language barrier
– 13 representatives of the federal and foreign mass media gave coverage to the festival
– 10 volunteers helped the Philharmonic during the festival
– 230 publications in mass media addressed festival events
– 8,159 tickets were sold to the festival concerts

>>> Go to the web site of First Festival