On September 25 the Galina Vishnevskaya I International Opera Festival in Sochi was concluded with Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Zimny Theatre.
The Festival program consisted of Galina Pavlovna’s favorite operas, galas and charity concerts with arias from the great singer’s repertoire. According to the idea of the Artistic Director of the Festival, Olga Rostropovich, the Opera Centre’s soloists have become the main “characters” of the Festival, raised with highest artistic requirements and respect for operatic traditions. The Festival has featured world-famous mezzo-soprano Yulia Gertseva and conductor Marco Boemi, young Italian singers Daniela Cappiello, Angelo Fiore, Lara Rotili and Spanish conductor Daniel Monatane, as well as the soloists of the Sochi Philharmonic. The lobby ща the Zimny theatre hosted and exhibition dedicated to Galina Vishnevskaya’s life and artistic career. The audience has paid much interest to it: the spectators have examined the photographs picturing Galina Pavlovna in her early years and years of blockade, on stage, working with her pupils…
“The Festival is a success and I am very please with this result. I can even say that is has exceeded our expectations. Full house. People listen with a great pleasure. We receive unbelievable letters from the audience: they ask us to come back. I’m so happy!” – has told Olga Rostropovich in an interview to ‘Vesti’ TV program.
According to mass media, the I International Opera Festival in Sochi has become one of the major events of the whole new 2016/2017 season, not only Galina Vishnevskaya’s 90th birth anniversary festivities. Next event in this series is concert by the best graduates of the Opera Centre which is going to take place on October 25 – Galina Vishnevskaya’s Birthday.
“Sochi citizens have liked the opera classics. Galina Vishnevskaya’s Festival was attended by whole families. The results have exceeded all expectations. The concert halls were full, the feedbacks were delightful. In the future the Festival’s organizers hope to carry it out annually and make it an inseparable part of Black Sea resort cultural life.”
«Kultura» TV channel, «Novosti Kul’tury» («Culture news»)