The XVII Moscow Easter Festival will last from 8 April to 9 May, 2018. The Festival events are planned to be held in almost 30 Russian cities, including Vladivostok, and, for the first time, - Ussuriysk. In accordance with tradition, the festival presents four programmes: symphony music, choral music, chamber music and bell-ringing.
The Festival will open in Moscow on 8 April with concerts by the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, which will be held at 12.00 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and at 19:00 at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. The matinee performance will be relayed live to the Russian regions participating in the project The All-Russian Virtual Concert Hall.
This year, the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in Vladivostok will join the Symphonic and Choral Music Programmes of the Moscow Easter Festival. 11 April will see a concert by the Chorus and the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage under Anton Torbeev and the Combined Choir of the Primorsky Metropolitanate conducted by Ludmila Makarenko. On 21 April the Chorus and the Mariinsky Orchestra of the Primorsky Stage conducted by Pavel Smelkov will perform at the Great Hall of the Theatre.
Participants of the Far East Choral Music Programme include: in Vladivostok — Choir of the Church of the Port Arthur Icon of the Theotokos (choir leader - Elena Kokhanovskaya); Choir of the The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin (choir leader - Ludmila Makarenko); Choir of the Church of the Assumption (choir leader - Yulia Loseva); Choir of the St. Nicholas Cathedral (choir leader - Elena Rusinova); in Ussuriysk — Choir of the Church of Nikolaos the Wonderworker.
The seventeenth festival will be one of the greatest and lengthiest in the festival's history – this record music marathon will run for 32 days! Concerts by internationally renowned singers and outstanding ensembles will take place at major Moscow and regional concert venues and will become unforgettable events in the cultural life of the Festival cities. By tradition, the XVII Festival events will also be held at children's homes, residential schools, residential homes for veterans and people with disabilities. The Festival will culminate with a traditional concert by the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev at Poklonnaya Hill on the Victory Day, 9 May.
