Brno hosting St. Petersburg's Days of Culture

A bard song evening held on Thursday in Brno /the centre of southern Moravia/ in the framework of St. Petersburg's Culture Days was a great success. Famous bard and singer Yuli Kim from St. Petersburg sang at the party, Vice Consul of the Russian General Consulate in Brno Denis Grischenko reported.

The cultural action was launched in early March 2003 with a big gala concert of ballet stars from St. Petersburg that some days ago celebrated its 300th anniversary. "These St. Petersburg's Culture Days will last for a year," Grischenko explained.

In 2003 Moravia will see a week of St. Petersburg director's films. The Brno City Theatre will show the play, "Tsar Oedipus" staged by St. Petersburg's Theatre on Liteyny. The Big Orchestra of the St. Petersburg state philharmonic society will also give a concert in Brno in October 2003 within the framework of the Moravian autumn international music festival.

Art and cultural workers from St. Petersburg will also give performances in Prague. Some cultural actions held in Moravia will be repeated in Prague.

Czech Culture Minister Pavel Dostal supported the idea of holding St. Petersburg's Culture Days in Brno and is supervising the cultural forum. He expressed hope that the events "would make a big contribution into development of Russian-Czech relations".

The Russian Ministry of Culture also supported "implementation of the joint project devoted to St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary," Russian Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy said. He expressed confidence that the "diverse programme of the cultural project and Russian and Czech leading artists' participation will further improve mutual understanding between our countries and people."