The opening of the IV Interregional Festival of Classical Art “Viva Maestro!” will take place in Voronezh.

The festival was initiated by the Children’s Art School No. 5 of Stary Oskol and is held as part of the “Class from the Maestro” project of the Alisher Usmanov Charitable Foundation “Art, Science and Sports” with the aim of organizing concert practice for gifted children and youth at the best philharmonic venues in the country.

To participate in the Festival “Viva Maestro!” this year more than 100 applications were submitted from Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Tambov, Tver, Moscow regions, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Participants are given the opportunity to gain concert practice with symphony and chamber orchestras, as well as perform on stage with world-class musicians and gain invaluable experience of creative communication with the maestro at master classes. This year the “pop vocal” nomination was introduced for the first time.

Two concert events will be held as part of the Festival’s concert program. On April 24, the opening concert “Maestro and Young Talents of Russia” will take place in the Voronezh Concert Hall with the participation of the Symphony Orchestra of the Voronezh Concert Hall under the baton of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Yuri Androsov, soloist of the Moscow Regional Philharmonic, Bolshoi Theater of Russia, Orchestra of the Russian Guard, Honored Artist of the Republic of Dagestan Alina Yarovaya and young participants of the Festival. The program will feature works by great composers of different eras and movements: I.S. Bakh, V.A. Mozart, L.V. Beethoven, R. Schumann, E. Grieg. Works by contemporary composers will also be performed by a flute ensemble led by Ksenia Kolomyntseva, and the children’s pop choir “Friends” led by Vitaly Ososhnik. Instrumental scores will be written for them, which will be performed for the first time, accompanied by a symphony orchestra.

The second concert will take place on June 8 in Moscow. Young talents will perform for the first time at the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky on the same stage with the state chamber orchestra “Moscow Virtuosi”, whose artistic director is People’s Artist of the USSR, UNESCO World Artist Vladimir Spivakov.

Festival of classical art “Viva Maestro!” was initiated by the Children’s Art School No. 5 of the city of Stary Oskol in 2021 and takes place as part of the “Class from the Maestro” project of the Alisher Usmanov Charitable Foundation “Art, Science and Sports”. In 2022 and 2023, the project became the winner of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives and was presented at the VIII International Conference of the Yuri Bashmet Winter International Arts Festival in Sochi as one of the best projects in the country, carried out with the support of PFKI.

The festival was attended by outstanding performers and renowned groups: the state chamber orchestra “Moscow Virtuosi” under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov, the Kuban Symphony Orchestra “Premiere” (chief conductor Denis Ivensky), the academic orchestra of Russian instruments of the Belgorod State Philharmonic (chief conductor Evgeny Aleshnikov), the symphony Orchestra of the Voronezh Concert Hall (conductor Yuri Androsov).

The performance of participants together with outstanding musicians is a distinctive feature of “Viva Maestro!” World-class stars took part in the concert programs of the Festival – Hayk Kazazyan, Boris Andrianov, Anna Aglatova, Maria Barakova, Dmitry Masleev, Alexander Gindin, Ekaterina Mechetina, Vadim Rudenko, Narek Akhnazaryan, Ekaterina Mochalova, Joseph Purits, Sergey Lukin. For young musicians, performing on the same stage with the maestro, accompanied by professional philharmonic orchestras, is a unique chance to express their talent and demonstrate their skills at the best concert venues.