Alexander Kosinets: Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk – world-scale cultural forum

VITEBSK, 17 July (BelTA) – The Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is the world-scale cultural forum, Chairman of the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets noted during the closing ceremony of the 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk on 16 July. The farewell song of the Slavonic Bazaar Festival has been performed. More than 5,000 guests from 33 countries took part in this large-scale cultural project of Belarus and Russia. Almost 250,000 people attended festival’s events. Some 21 shows were presented on the stage of the Summer Amphitheater of Vitebsk. Around 120,000 spectators attended them. In the showbill you could see the names of Lara Fabian, Sarah Connor, Raimonds Pauls, Valery Leontiev, Roza Rymbaeva, Sophia Rotaru, Yadviga Poplavskaya and Alexander Tikhanovich, Boris Moiseev, Valery Meladze, Nadezhda Kadysheva and Alexander Rybak. The Belarusian Norwegian took part in the Slavonic Bazaar opening ceremony. Traditionally, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Moscow gave their concerts. Latvia sent one of the biggest delegations – around 100 people – singers, artists and musicians. The audience saw performances by artists from Kazakhstan, Israel, China, and Vietnam. The first-time participant is Brazil. Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is a long-term large-scale interstate cultural project of Belarus and Russia which aims to promote cooperation between different cultures and spiritual unity of the peoples of the world. The festival contributes to the revival and development of culture and arts. It aims to support young talents and new trends in culture and arts. Young singers from 16 countries took part in the Vitebsk 2009 song contest. The international jury was headed by Laima Vaikule. Russian representative Dmitry Danilenko won the Grand Prix of the Vitebsk 2009 song contest. Belarusian Andrei Kolosov took the second place. This contest was followed by the Vitebsk 2009 junior song contest. Romanian representative Maria took the Grand Prix of the junior song contest in Vitebsk. Belarusian Maria Novik took the second place. The jury panel of the Vitebsk 2009 junior song contest was chaired by Leonid Zakhlevny. This year, Belarusian President’s special award “Through Art to Peace and Mutual Understanding” was be presented to Russian singer Valery Leontiev. The Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is not only about pop music. More than 70 various events were held during the 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. Craftsmen from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine presented their works in the Zadvinje Folk-Crafts Centre. A great number of meetings with artistes and writers were held as well. Performances of Moscow theaters, meetings with singers of the Israeli opera, an exhibition of Marc Chagall’s works were also on the programme. The unique exhibition “A Hundred of Marc Chagall’s Works” was held within the framework of the festival this year. Moscow charity fund “Triumph – New Century” presented Belarus with these priceless works. Seven copies of Ilya Repin’s works also were handed over to the town of Vitebsk. Around 600 representatives of mass media and Internet outlets from 11 countries covered the international festival of arts in Vitebsk. These were journalists from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Great Britain, the USA, Germany, China and Macedonia. Concerts of the festival were broadcast by the Belarus National TV and Radio Company and Rossiya TV Channel of Russia. The budget of the Belarus-Russia Union State allocated around RUB25 million for the festival. The contribution of the Russian side is RUB9 million 300 thousand, the share of Belarus is RUB15 million 596 thousand. The 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk was running from 10 July to 16 July.

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