Russian performers appeared at the SCO Member States Arts Festival in ChinaThe festival was held from 7 to 14 July in Qingdao, the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital 2024-2025.

The Russian Federation was represented by laureates of all-Russian and international competitions, violinists Leonid Zhelezny and Gennady Akinfin, violist Andrey Usov, cellist Vasily Stepanov and the Ural State Academic Russian Folk Choir.

On 7 July, the Russian string quartet took part in the Festival Opening ceremony concert. The winner of the special prize of the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Yuri Bashmet Award For the Beauty of Sound, laureate of the III All-Russian Music Competition Leonid Zhelezny (violin), laureate of the XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition and the IV All-Russian Music Competition Vasily Stepanov (cello), laureates of international competitions Gennady Akinfin (violin) and Andrey Usov (viola) gave a performance in front of the large international audience. The musicians performed Trepak from The Nutcracker by P. Tchaikovsky and the Dance of the Knights from the ballet Romeo and Juliet by S. Prokofiev.

The next day, 8 July, the second concert of Russian musicians took place, the program of which included String Quartet No. 1 (Unfinished) by S. Rachmaninoff, Scherzo and Andante cantabile from Quartet No. 1 by P. Tchaikovsky, and Nocturne from Quartet No. 2 by A. Borodin

The concert of the Ural State Academic Russian Folk Choir took place on 14 July.

The artistic director of the choir, Nikolay Zaitsev, thanked the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Russia and the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Culture ROSCONCERT for the opportunity to perform at the festival and said:

“The choir presented the ninety-minute program. We sang and danced, immersing the audience into  Russian national culture. The program included the best examples of folk songs and dances of the Urals, as well as famous songs by Russian and Soviet composers.

Naturally, we were worrying how the audience would receive our program – here people speak a different language and their mentality and temper are also different. The spectators in a huge auditorium with almost a thousand seats received our performance very emotionally. When we sang the Ural lyrical song “The Bird Cherry Tree Under the Window Sways In the Wind”, everyone took their phones and started filming. “Katyusha” was performed in chorus with the audience which sang this song in Chinese. And the last piece of our concert was followed by a standing ovation! This was the most valuable expression of the spectators’ appreciation!

We were happy to present art that unites peoples.”

To the participants and guests of the festival, the choir performed vocal and choreographic compositions Mother Russia, Barynya-Sudarynya, For My Russia, the vocal and choreographic picture Ballad of a Soldier, the sketch By the River Where the Red Willow Was, the Ural square dance The Seven and other works. The dance tune Katyusha’s Husband is a Flaneur, the lyrical song On the Mountain, on the Little Mountain, well-known Katyusha by M. Blanter, Moscow Nights by V. Solovyov-Sedoy, and By the Long Road by B. Fomin and other songs were added to the program. The dance group presented the choreographic pieces Behind the Village Fence and Krutikhinsky Plunks

The event was held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Organizer – FGBUK ROSCONCERT