The gala concert of the Road to Yalta festival was held in the Kremlin

The final gala concert of the international music festival "The Road to Yalta" took place on May 1 at the State Kremlin Palace. It was attended by performers from 17 countries who performed wartime songs in 13 foreign languages.

The festival, dedicated to Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War (WWII), annually unites artists from all over the world who want to pay tribute to the memory of the heroic deed of the Soviet people.

Andrey Kondrashov, the president of the festival, stressed that the foreign participants were not afraid of criticism in their homeland and openly spoke out in support of historical memory.

"I am extremely happy to be here. It is especially important for me to perform the song "At an Unnamed Height", since my grandfather went through the Second World War. He was a Marine. It is especially important for me to share with you the emotions and feelings contained in this song," American actress and singer Deborah Bowman told reporters.

The artistic director Ernest Mackevicius, in turn, thanked the foreign guests for coming to the festival, "despite the criticism in their countries."

The concert began with the performance of the song "Mother Earth" in Russian — it was sung by participants from 15 countries together with Tatiana Kartukova and members of the jury. The chairman of the jury was People's Artist of the RSFSR Lev Leshchenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated the guests and participants of the event.

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On April 30, it was reported that in 2025, the organizing committee of the Road to Yalta festival received 160 applications from vocalists from 55 countries. In the online qualifying round, the jury selected participants from 15 countries who came to Moscow. According to the established tradition, the premiere of the broadcast version of the gala concert will take place on the eve of Victory Day on May 8 at 20:30 on the Kultura TV channel.