Yuri Rozum: I dream of working with children from Caucasus

Moscow hosted the presentation of the XII International Festival of Arts 'Starry', which will open on April 12th at Starry City. This event aims to bring together the works of living classic of big cities. This year it will be dedicated to the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, which explains the choice of venue for the music festival. The concert programs will involve stars of classical music with world renowned names, and children who received scholarships of the Charitable Fund of Yuri Rozum.

The correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza was able to talk with the president of this festival, People's Artist of Russia, laureate of international competitions, soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic, president of the International Charitable Fund of Yuri Rozum, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences' academician, professor and chair of the special piano department of the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnesin, Yuri Rozum, who spoke about the upcoming event and shared his impressions about his experience of working with musicians from different republics of the South Caucasus.

"This year's festival is dedicated to the 55th anniversary of Gagarin's flight into space, and it will be mainly attended by representatives of the Moscow region, because we started very close cooperation with the government of the Moscow region, children from the Schelkovsky district, because the administration of the Schelkovsky district has patronized this festival from the first day of its appearance, and, of course, those who received scholarships from my fund," he said.

"The North Caucasus, my favorite, where I still have, in addition to my title of People's Artist of Russia, the title of People's Artist of Dagestan, won't participate in this festival. It takes a serious place in another festival, which is called 'Where Art is Born'. This is the program of festivals in music schools and schools of arts, I've been in all the Transcaucasian republics with it, and I hope that we will repeat this festival once again in the next season, because kids are very talented and I want to work with time closely. We plan to do all of this," Yuri Rozum added.

In the future, the professor hopes to develop relations with the South Caucasus. "I really want us to cooperate more actively in the future, and I look forward to the proposals on new masterclasses, to come to the republics of Transcaucasia, visit the music schools there, look at the children, share experiences, and choose someone for scholarship. Then, in the next festival, I am sure, there will be participants and soloists from Transcaucasia," he stated.