Young musicians from almost 30 countries performed at the Cultural City Festival in Zaryadye

Five continents, almost 30 countries, more than 800 performers, more than 40,000 viewers — and one great music for all. The III Festival of Youth Orchestras of the World, led by Maestro Yuri Bashmet, was presented on the stage of the Zaryadye Park Large Amphitheater as part of the Cultural City Festival and the Territory of the Future forum. Moscow 2030" an extravaganza of symphonic music performed by nine orchestras. The organizer is the Moscow Department of Culture.

The highlight of the grandiose three-day open-air was the performance of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by maestro Yuri Bashmet. The band, specially assembled for the festival, brought together musicians from 24 countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Germany, Egypt, Spain, Italy, Iraq, China, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Finland, Croatia, Ethiopia and South Africa.. The festival concluded with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, one of the most recognizable works in the history of music, which has become a symbol of struggle and the triumph of the human spirit.

The participation of bands and performers from Eurasia, Africa and South America demonstrates the truly global scale of the festival and its role in the international cultural community. For three days, the guests of the forum "Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030" saw performances by nine orchestras. The teams from Lebanon, Armenia and Venezuela came for the first time. Each band presented a unique program, emphasizing the national characteristics of the orchestra and the professionalism of the young performers. For example, musicians from Yerevan presented the passionate energy of Armenian music in Alexander Harutyunyan's Trumpet Concert, and the program of the Lebanese National Youth Orchestra, which opened the festival program, featured one of the oldest Arabic instruments, the oud.

The Lebanese orchestra was conducted by Russian Diana Hoffman, and the Rosatom Orchestra was conducted by Freddy Cadena, a native of Ecuador, who once came to Moscow to receive musical education and decided to stay in Russia forever.

A special event of the festival was the only concert in Russia this year by the Francisco de Miranda Symphony Orchestra "El Sistema" (Venezuela) conducted by Andres Nieves. The performance was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the legendary Venezuelan El Sistema program, one of the world's largest and most exemplary educational programs for young musicians, which supports gifted children from low-income families. The orchestra flew to Moscow for the festival in its entirety — 168 people.

The creative cooperation of young musicians from around the world, joint rehearsals and performances at concerts have become an important guarantee of friendly and creative relations between Russia and other countries for many years.

"The fact that music can bring the guys together, encourage them to come to Russia and spend 5-6 days here in intensive rehearsals to perform together at the closing of the festival is priceless. Our participants include both long—standing partners, branches and orchestras created with our participation on the initiative of Yuri Abramovich Bashmet: the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra, ensembles from Chelyabinsk and Rosatom, as well as new ensembles. It was important for the maestro that his work with young musicians was not limited to the All—Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra, but that children from different regions of the country had the opportunity to practice symphonic music," said Dmitry Grinchenko, organizer of the III Festival of Youth Orchestras of the World, General Director of the Russian Concert Agency.

The festival participants especially noted the unique innovative stage of the festival with an open panorama of the Moscow Kremlin. The program of the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra, which performed Alexander Glazunov's Second Symphony, especially "rhymed" with views of the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the Kremlin towers.

"These are the perfect sets for Glazunov's music. His writings always reflect the breath of Russian antiquity, images of ancient church poppies and the grandeur of the Kremlin. Although he is from St. Petersburg, he was surprisingly able to accurately convey the spirit of Moscow antiquity," said Anton Shaburov, conductor of the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra.

The festival has consolidated Moscow's status as one of the world's centers of cultural dialogue and has become a significant event in the implementation of international youth music education programs.