An International Arts Festival, dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, starts in Moscow region on April 22nd. Stars of classical music with world renowned names and children who received scholarships from the Yuri Rozum Charitable Fund will be participants in the concert programs. The festival is held annually at dozens of sites in Moscow and the Moscow region. Since its establishment, it was attended by soloists of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, the State Academic Mariinsky Theater, the Moscow Musical Theatre of Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, Zurab Sotkilava, Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Iosif Kobzon, Vladimir Andreev and Yuri Rozum. One of the main goals of the festival is to bring the works of living classics outside of big cities, to gather beginners and already succesful 'stars' with world renowned names on the same stage, as well as to acquaint the public with original creative collectives.
As the author of the idea and the organizer of the festival, the pianist, People's Artist of Russia, People's Artist of Dagestan, winner of international competitions, soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic, academician of the Academy of Natural Sciences, a professor and the head of the Department of Special Piano of Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music, Yuri Rozum, stated that the festival has three main goals: "The first is patriotic. Each is or individual concert of the festival are devoted to certain significant dates in our country's history. There was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, and the 50th anniversary of the flight of Tereshkova, and the 70th anniversary of the Victory, or any date dedicated to the greatest artists of Russia, and so on."
Another goal of the festival is educational. "It is called ‘Star’ not only because it starts in Star City each year, but also because real stars participate in it, outstanding masters of the arts from our country and from foreign countries, which is why the festival is international. Our young starters also participate in it, because one of the main programs of our foundation is to support musically gifted children in our country. And over the years, in the 12 years of our foundation, which, incidentally, was created on April 12th 2005, we have helped to raise hundreds of gifted children. Indeed, they are the elite of our stage, they are the future glory of our country... This is the first such high point for our young stars. Therefore, we see growth, we see creative development after such a festival," he explained.
He called the third goal of the festival geographic: ""This is a desire, I would not say in a Western style, but this is a tradition around the world, a worldwide tradition to bring the festival out of the metropolis to some small lands. We hold it in the suburbs of Moscow. It starts traditionally in Star City, then moves to the Schelkovskoe district. We have had quite serious links with this place for all our 12 years. And the audience of these small towns, Shchelkovo, Chkalovsky, for the first time in their lives, probably, can listen to a concert for free, they can hear great masters and young stars."
