A festival of Russian culture opened in Tokyo

TOKYO, 22 Apr, Ksenia Naka. The festival of Russian culture opened in Tokyo with a concert of young Russian stars and Japanese musicians, reports a correspondent from the Kioi concert hall.
The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Japan Nikolai Nozdrev addressed the guests and participants of the festival with a welcoming speech. “A special place in the program is occupied by young Russian and Japanese performers, who are united by Russian musical education, successful experience of working together, and who have already been sincerely loved by the very discerning Japanese public,” said the ambassador.

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The head of the diplomatic mission expressed hope for the further development of the Russian Culture Festival in Japan. “The festival has survived the difficult period of Covid. I am fully confident that together we will survive the current turbulence in world politics and economics, and the festival will continue to fulfill its most important role — to help strengthen the respectful and trusting attitude of our peoples towards each other,” — Nozdrev emphasized.

The concert is dedicated to several anniversary dates celebrated this year: the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin, the 185th anniversary of the birth of Modest Mussorgsky, the 180th anniversary of birthday of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The slogan of the festival is “There is no politics in art, music has no boundaries.”
From the Russian side, the concert will be attended by the winner of the XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition Lev Zhuravsky (clarinet), the first prize winner of the international pianist competition Wandering music stars Elizaveta Klyuchereva, and the winner of the IV International Percussion Competition in St. Petersburg Andrei Taranukha. Japanese musicians are represented by pianist Kanon Matsuda, soprano Hatsue Nakamura and violinist Teiko Maehashi.
The program will feature romances based on poems by Pushkin, works by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Pletnev and other composers.
< br />On Tuesday, young Russian musicians will open the series of concerts “New Stars of Russia – 2024” as part of the “Embassy of Excellence” project of the St. Petersburg House of Music under the direction of Sergei Roldugin.

At the end of May, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater will tour in Japan for the first time in 36 years; the play “Duel” based on Chekhov’s work of the same name will be presented to the Japanese public.
The festival program for this year includes about 30 events: film screenings of films based on the works of Pushkin “Tsar Saltan” and “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, films-operas to the music of Mussorgsky “Khovanshchina” and “Boris Godunov”, anniversary concerts dedicated to the 185th anniversary of the birth of Mussorgsky, the 225th anniversary of the birth of Pushkin and the 180th anniversary of the birth of Rimsky-Korsakov, the Petipa Prix ballet competition, the Andrei Tarkovsky film festival, the film festival in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of Mosfilm, folk music concerts and performances by ballet dancers.
The festival of Russian culture in Japan has been taking place since 2006, during which time it has been visited by more than 23 million people. The festival included more than 500 events — concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events in all 47 prefectures of Japan, and more than 11 thousand Russian cultural figures took part in them. From 2021 until his tragic death, the organizing committee on the Japanese side was headed by ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.