Final preparations for the Scarlet Sails holiday are underway in St. Petersburg

Preparations for the celebration of all graduates of Scarlet Sails have reached the finish line. On June 26, Izvestia correspondent Natalia Oskerko told the details.

On the stage, which this year is designed as a large-scale portal to the future, the rehearsals of the artists and the installation of decorations have begun. The authors of the concept have incorporated symbols into the design that should remind viewers of the importance of dreams and faith in miracles.

"Everything was made for the children by the hands of the same people who were once small," said Tatiana Troshneva, the director of the concert part of the holiday.

The construction on the Palace Square is complex and impressive in size. The stage is 75 m wide and 30.5 m high. Specialists needed more than 8 tons of metal to build the facility.

"This year, the audience will see the largest scale of stage construction in recent years. We have never built such a big stage before," said Alexey Bulgakov, Technical director of the concert section of the Scarlet Sails.

This means that even more light is needed, so that with every hour of the holiday it becomes brighter due to the peculiarity of the white nights. A surprise for the audience is the light fixture at the very top. This has never been seen in St. Petersburg before.

"This year we have a real lighthouse that will send a signal from our stage to half of St. Petersburg," said lighting designer Alexander Sivaev.

Another feature of the stage is the screens: curved, sliding, lifting. They're everywhere, even on the roof. At the same time, the main focus in the visual range will be on iconic St. Petersburg locations. In addition to traditional decorations, the show uses advanced technologies, including 3D graphics and artificial intelligence capabilities.

"There is such a multi-approach when you use both 3D, 2D, and neural network. This allows you to achieve the effect when people do not understand how it is done, how it is done. And it seems to me that for us, the creators, this is the coolest thing," explained Ksenia Savanina, producer of multimedia content for the concert part of the holiday.

The Scarlet Sails holiday was revived in 2005 after a long-term hiatus at the initiative of ROSSIYA Joint Stock Bank, the Government of St. Petersburg and Channel Five.

Big dreams — big sailing: ships, a train and a lighthouse will appear on Dvortsovaya

How is the preparation for the main alumni holiday going?

In 2026, the water and pyrotechnic show of the Scarlet Sails festival will acquire a special artistic concept inspired by the images of Russian fairy tales. The organizers of the show appeal to archetypes that are understandable to everyone: friendship, kindness, love, loyalty, and the choice of a life path.

Videos about the "Scarlet Sails" holiday are shown from June 23 to 28 on the media facade of the Ostankino TV Tower. "Scarlet Sails" will go beyond the center of St. Petersburg, the traditional stage on the Palace Square and the Neva River, the television broadcast and the digital environment and will become part of the architectural and visual code of another metropolis — the capital of Russia.