8th international festival of military brass bands open in St. Petersburg

This is one of the most important events of the festival, coordinator of the festival, conductor Alexey Karabanov told RIA Novosti. It will gather about a thousand musicians from the best 20 military brass bands of Russia and other countries.

Among the festival participants are Drummer Corps of the Swedish Army and Orchestra of the Netherlands' Royal Marines, school orchestra of the Finnish defence forces and representative orchestra of the Swiss army, Orchestra of Great Britain's Royal Marines and Admiralty Orchestra of the Leningrad naval base.

The second most important event at the festival will be a march-parade of the military brass bands to be held on Saturday. The musicians will march along St. Petersburg's main street, the Nevsky prospekt. Then the orchestras will give the performance, "All flags in Russia!", at the St. Peter and Paul Fortress for the heads of states, who will arrive in St. Petersburg to participate in the celebration.

The festival will end on June 1st with a concert of the representative orchestra of the Swiss Army near the Chapel.

Peter the Great was the founder of military brass music in Russia having set up military orchestras in the Russian army.

The fist festival of military brass bands took place in St. Petersburg in 1996.