Participants played music by R. Shchedrin, F. Chopin, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Prokofyev and S. Rakhmaninoff. Honourary diplomas were handed out by the Fund s President, Mstislav Rostropovich.
The Charitable Scholarships Fund was established in 1997. Stipends are annually awarded to the most talented music college and school students from around Russia. In the 2000/2001 school year, $100 stipends were handed out to 23 students in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don and Novosibirsk. Of the more than a hundred young musicians who vied for the 2002/2003 scholarships, 29 applicants from Astrakhan, Voronezh, Kazan, Moscow, Omsk, Ryazan, Rostov-on-Don and Yakutsk were eventually selected. Many of these are proud winners of many an international competition, like, for example, violinist Alyona Bayeva top winner of the Weniawski international contest in Poland (Poznan, 2001), pianist Tatyana Michko top award of the Glenn Gould international competition in Italy (Ostra, 2002), cellist Alexander Buzlov winner of the Young Concert Artists international contest in the United States (New York, 2001) to name just a few. Besides rendering material assistance such as stipends, the Fund organizes concerts for scholarship holders both in and out of Russia, master classes, buys musical instruments etc. The Fund s President, Mstislav Rostropovich, is widely known for his extensive charitable work as the founder, trustee and president of several other foundations, but the Regional Public Fund helping musically endowed students is the only officially registered and working such organization in Russia.