March 4, Vitebsk / Alena Tikhonova - BELTA/. Performers from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Poland, and Germany will take part in the concerts of the XXVII International Festival of Ancient and Modern Chamber Music, which will be held in Polotsk from March 13 to May 2, the concert hall of St. Sophia Cathedral informed a BELTA correspondent.
The festival will open with the programme "Music of Kings". Honoured Artist of the Republic of Belarus, soloist of the National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre, Oksana Volkova (mezzo-soprano), who became the first Belarusian singer to perform on the stage of the "Metropolitan Opera" in New York, will perform for the first time in the concert hall of St. Sophia Cathedral. Oksana Volkova, together with the ensemble of soloists "Partita", will present Baroque masterpieces (works by J.S. Bach, G. Handel, A. Vivaldi, A. Marcello will be performed).
Lovers of Russian and foreign choral music are expected on March 20. One of the leading ensembles of the country, the State Chamber Choir of Belarus (conductor - Honoured Artist of Belarus Natalia Mikhailova), will perform.
The concert "Great Bach", dedicated to the composer's birthday, will take place on March 23. The best organ and chamber works of the renowned author will be performed by organist Ksenia Pogorelaya, Jamilya Amandurdyeva (mezzo-soprano), and the chamber orchestra "Europe-Center" (conductor - Rail Sadykov).
The concert-rhapsody on March 30 will bring together fans of the talent and creativity of Ksenia Pogorelaya, soloist of the concert hall of St. Sophia Cathedral. Guests of the anniversary programme will include the chamber orchestra "Europe-Center", the Exemplary Choir of Children's Art School No. 1 of Vitebsk (conductor - Vitaly Rauzo), and organist Joachim Eichhorn (Germany).
On April 3, Polotsk will welcome lovers of piano music: a performance by Nina Seregina, Honoured Artist of Russia, professor at the N. Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Conservatory, and her students: Enrique Lapaz (Spain) and Valentina Bondarenko (Belarus).
Spiritual music by Polish composers will be performed on April 13, and on April 25, the premiere of the work by contemporary German composer Gloria Bruni, Requiem a Roma ("Requiem in Rome"), will be performed by soloists, the academic choir, and the symphony orchestra of the Belteleradiocompany under the direction of Wilhelm Keitel. The work was written in 2000 by order of the Vatican and has already been performed in Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria, and Israel. Now the requiem will be performed in Polotsk, with Gloria Bruni herself performing the soprano part.