Gala concert of the festival of masters of art of the Volga federal district held in Kremlin Palace

A grand Gala concert of the festival of masters of art of Volga federal district took place on the stage of State Kremlin Palace on October 17, 2011. It was held in the context of All-Russia forum of arts and tourism “Open Povolzhie”. Tatarstan Premier Ildar Khalikov attended the event. Besides, Tatarstan official delegation comprised of Plenipotentiary of RT in RF Ravil Akhmetshin, RT Minister of culture Airat Sibagatullin, Rector of Kazan state university of culture and arts Rivkat Yusupov, Chairman of RT writers’ association Ilfak Ibragimov, Chairman of RT composers’ association Rashid Kalimullin.

Russian culture minister Aleksandr Avdeev and plenipotentiary to RF President in Volga federal district Grigory Rapota opened the gala concert.

Aleksandr Avdeev marked that there is hardly a place like Russia with such constellation of national cultures and picturesque touristic places. “Today we will see performances of young and adult artists, representing Volga federal district, the heart of Russia”, - the Russian culture minister said. He added as well that so many things are still to be done in terms of preserving and developing urban and rural culture.

Grigory Rapota said he is always impressed by seeing such talented artists and creative teams during his regular visits to regions. Unfortunately, people no nothing about them. “Performance at the main concert stage of the country is an important event in their lives as they can get acquainted with each other, exchange experience and feel themselves a part of our motherland”, - plenipotentiary to RF President in Volga federal district said.

In the concert participated artists and teams from Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Mordovia, Mary El, Udmurtia, Samara, Perm, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kirov, by and large, 1500 artists.

The Republic of Tatarstan was presented by the State song and dance ensemble which was founded about 70 years ago, Kazan children circus school. Designers Gulnara Andreeva and Raisa Kamalova showed their models of clothes.

The audience saw as well teams famous in Russia and beyond – folk orchestra “Mari Kundem” (the Republic of Mari - El), national symphony orchestra of Bashkortostan Republic, Chuvash state drama theatre, “Vyatka” group (Kirov), Nizhny Novgorod ensemble of drummers and other teams. For sure, everyone was impressed by cheerful performance of group “Buranovskie Babushki” from Udmurtia.

The concert was led by People's Artist of Russia Ekaterina Shavrina and Sergey Voitenko. The festival is aimed at promoting achievements in the sphere of culture and art in federal districts of the Russian Federation. State Kremlin Palace gave impetus to renewal of national festival movement. The festival is expected to be held annually.

Moreover, an exhibition of photo presentations, art and artistic specimen from different regions of the district opened on October 16 in State Kremlin Palace.

In the context of All-Russia forum of arts and tourism “Open Povolzhie” the first district festival-presentation of touristic resources “Open Povolzhie” is being held in Nizhny Novgorod on October 17-19. It implies holding conferences dedicated to the strategy of developing interregional tourism in the district, round tables, contests, the fair of investment projects and other events with participation of leading experts in touristic sphere.