Levitan's Fifth Festival of Classical Music ends in Ivanovo region

In the Ivanovo region, an annual cultural event brought together music critics and devotees of classical music from all over Russia. Levitan's Fifth Festival of Classical Music took place on September 21-23 in the town of Plyos.

Classical music played in the newly built Levitan's cultural center, which, in the opinion of Governor Mikhail Men, has a special sound quality. "There are few of such places in Russia that have so fine characteristics for concerts. I'm sure that the new venue will give an extra incentive to the development of the festival", the governor stressed out.

The festival opened with "Music For Us All" concert that played the music of such composers as Beethoven, Handel, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. The first part of the concert was dedicated entirely to the renowned composers. The second part of the concert was a gala show, during which the participants of the event performed their favorite songs.

Violinist Kozhukhar Nazar came to Plyos to take part in the festival. He performed the music by John Cage, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich and Charlie Chaplin. In addition, one could listen to the verses by Russian poet Vera Pavlova, performed by theater and movie actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite. The Quartet of Alfred Schnittke played at the end of the concert.

The festival, held in the region for the fifth time, was dedicated to childhood, and the musicians performed the works by Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky at Saturday's concert. The theme of childhood could be seen in the exhibition by artist Irina Korsakova from her series "Kids' Games".

According to the artistic director of the Levitan Music Festival, Alexei Goribol, there were 22 concerts held during the festival in total. "Many of the works were specially prepared and premiered for the festival," said Gribol.