Man of the Century: Alexander Zatsepin celebrates his 100th birthday at the Bolshoi Theatre

"A Conversation with Happiness," "A Song about Rabbits," "There is Only a Moment," "The January Blizzard Rings," and other immortal hits by Alexander Zatsepin were performed at the Bolshoi Theater on March 10 by stars of the domestic industry. And the main one was the composer himself — on this day he turned 100 years old. His creative biography includes dozens of feature films and animated films, to which the maestro gave his music. Among them are Leonid Gaidai's cult comedies "The Caucasian Captive", "The Diamond Hand", "12 Chairs", "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession". How the century of Zatsepin was celebrated on the main stage of the country is in the Izvestia report.

How that very moment was celebrated at the Bolshoi

To the incendiary tune "The January blizzard rings" from the Soviet classic "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession", familiar to several generations, the curtain of the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater opened on March 10. The guests gathered in the hall were energetically greeted by the author of the melody, composer Alexander Zatsepin, who accompanied the orchestra under the direction of Yuri Bashmet on the piano. On this day, the maestro celebrated his centenary on the main stage of the country, so all the songs, surprises and generous applause from the audience were dedicated to him.

Photo: Russia TV channel press service

The festive program was opened with lines from "Ruslan and Lyudmila" performed by Evgeny Mironov. He read an excerpt from Pushkin's work in the image of the poet himself. The next unexpected gift was a number by Olympic figure skating champion Alexei Yagudin, for which an ice rink was organized on the stage of the theater for the first time.

Alexander Zatsepin's path was not perfectly smooth, but it led to music from an early age. Even as a child, he wrote a song about the boy Morkov, a hooligan, who chopped off his grandfather's ears. On the anniversary, this playful miniature sketch was performed by actor Yevgeny Tkachuk. Other Russian stars also took the stage. The artists have prepared their own readings of the hero of the day's works. Each characterized one of the stages of Zatsepin's creative biography.

Sergey Shakurov performed a song from the movie "The Commander of the Happy Pike" — "A long time ago there was a war." The composer himself found the war years as a cadet at an infantry school in Tyumen. However, even there he found something to his liking — he mastered several instruments, participated in amateur army activities.

Photo: Russia TV channel press service

The Space Age in Zatsepin's work was presented by young musicians Peter Theremin and Ilya SymphoCat. They performed the theme from the cartoon "The Secret of the Third Planet" on a unique theremin instrument, which illustrated the movement of an interplanetary ship across the vast expanses of the stars. This number is also not accidental: Alexander Zatsepin can be considered a pioneer in the use of modern music techniques.

Dima Bilan came on stage with a huge bouquet of scarlet roses and performed the most beautiful song "My Heaven", which was sung by Valery Obodzinsky at the time. Opera diva Hibla Gerzmava complemented the concert with Zatsepin's hit from the movie "June 31" — "A World without a Loved one", and singer Ildar Abdrazakov's masterpiece "There is only a Moment".

Photo: Russia TV channel press service

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia, also took the stage to congratulate Alexander Zatsepin.

— Alexander Sergeevich, dear, happy birthday! — he turned to the hero of the day. — Please be healthy, happy and cherish your talent for the many millions of your fans both in our country and around the world.

And then Dmitry Peskov read out a congratulatory telegram from Vladimir Putin: "Dear Alexander Sergeevich! I cordially congratulate you on your 100th birthday. I am sincerely glad that you are celebrating such an impressive anniversary on a creative high, in a great mood, surrounded by family, friends, and loyal fans. And continue to generously give your talent and new wonderful works to music lovers!"

Two legends on the same stage

A special guest of the concert was People's Artist of the USSR, composer Alexandra Pakhmutova, who turned 96 in November 2025. In four hands with Zatsepin, they performed a medley of melodies written by the hero of the day to the comedies of Leonid Gaidai. He had a long journey together with the director. Zatsepin's music is heard in the films "Operation Y and other adventures of Shurik", "The Diamond Hand", "12 Chairs", "The Caucasian Prisoner, or the New Adventures of Shurik", "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession", "It can not be!". Leonid Gaidai's daughter Oksana came to congratulate the birthday boy on his anniversary.

Photo: Russia TV channel press service

Many of Zatsepin's immortal hits might not have happened without the poet Leonid Derbenev. He co-wrote more than 100 songs, including "There is only a Moment", "The Half-educated Wizard", "Where Childhood Goes" and "Looking for You".

Igor Butman, Konstantin Khabensky, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Nikolai Baskov, Yulia Peresild, Irina Pegova and others also took part in the concert. In the director's box, Alexander Zatsepin's family was in the place of honor. The composer's family, daughter Elena and grandchildren, arrived from France. And in the auditorium, among the guests were artists, veterans and heroes of the Soviet Union.

The final chord of the event was "A Conversation with Happiness", a song from the film "Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession". The lines "Suddenly, as in a fairy tale, the door creaked" were sung by all the artists who took part in the anniversary program.