On May 3, the Live Echo of the Battles of the Past music festival ended in the Kremlin

On May 3, the festive music festival "Live Echo of the Battles of the Past", dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, ended with the concert "Don't Forget those Terrible Years" at the State Kremlin Palace. It was held with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives. The organizer is the Artes Cultural Charity Foundation, the project partner is the International Union of Pop Artists. The musical director of the festival is Gennady Dmitryak.

The concert cycle "Live Echo of the battles of the Past" consisted of five large-scale programs. They were built in such a way as to acquaint listeners with iconic classical works of patriotic orientation, created in different years by the best Russian composers. A separate evening was reserved for Russian sacred music, while the final concert, held on the eve of Victory Day, mainly included wartime songs and compositions referring the audience to the events of 1941-1945.

The cycle's programs were thematic. So, in the framework of the first concert, which was called "And the year 1812 struck ...", the solemn overture "1812", the cantata "Moscow" by P.I. Tchaikovsky, as well as his Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra in B-flat minor, Op.23. The second evening, "Get Up, Russian People!", included Prokofiev's cantata Alexander Nevsky (Op. 78) and Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor (Op. 30). The name of the third festival concert speaks for itself.: "You survived, you survived, Leningrad!" It became a dedication to the hero city, which withstood the 872 days of the blockade, and the immortal feat of its inhabitants. The Seventh "Leningrad" Symphony by D.D. Shostakovich was performed in the first section of the program, and the second section featured Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Renowned ensembles and world-renowned virtuoso musicians took part in each of the concerts of the "Living Echo of the Battles of the Past" cycle: Dmitry Masleev, Ivan Bessonov and Philip Kopachevsky (piano); opera singers Yulia Mennibayeva (mezzo-soprano) and Alexander Sukhanov (baritone); Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra (artistic director and chief conductor – People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Fedoseev); the Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Artistic director and chief conductor Ivan Nikiforchin; the Russian National Orchestra (artistic director – Ivan Rudin); the Central Military Orchestra of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (head of the orchestra – Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Sergey Durygin).

The final chord of the "Living Echo of the Battles of the Past" festival was the concert "Don't forget those terrible years". It gave all its participants and guests the opportunity to fully experience their unity and spiritual kinship with the older generations, to pay a sincere tribute to the memory and boundless respect to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.

The program was attended by the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A.V. Alexandrov (head - artistic director of the collective, Honored Artist of Russia Colonel Gennady Sachenyuk) – with vocal and choreographic compositions. The orchestra of the Alexandrov Ensemble remained on stage throughout the evening.

The concert opened with two special songs for our country. These are the "Holy War" by A.Alexandrov – V.Lebedev-Kumach, born in the early days of the war, and the "Indestructible and Legendary" by A.Alexandrov – O.Kolychev, written in 1943. They set the necessary tone for the whole evening from the very beginning. It was also completed by three truly symbolic compositions, without which it is impossible to imagine the celebration of our Great Victory. Dedicated to the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, "Let's bow to those great years" by A.Pakhmutova - M.Lviv has already become firmly embedded in the cultural code of Russians – every time we listen to it, we again and again express our boundless respect for the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War who saved the world from the horrors of Hitler's Nazism. And we are proud to be their descendants.

And finally, the "Victory Day" by D.Tukhmanov - V.Kharitonov, the triumph of a world won at an unthinkable price – a world praising its saviors. It seemed that everyone who was present in the Great Hall of the Kremlin Palace was literally breathing in unison, singing along to the artists. Priceless moments of universal unity on the eve of our most important holiday. It's truly unforgettable!

Among the honored guests of the evening were veterans of the Great Patriotic War, members of the SVO and their families, Moscow pensioners, veterans of labor. The audience was very enthusiastic about what they saw and heard, they were literally overwhelmed with emotions. Here are some of the reviews they shared with us after the concert.

A total of 25,350 people attended the events of the "Living Echo of the Battles of the Past" festival.