The Mariinsky Theatre soloist will open the I. Sollertinsky Music Festival in Vitebsk today

November 29, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The concert by Olga Kondina, a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre and a laureate of international competitions, opens the XX Ivan Sollertinsky Music Festival in Vitebsk today, told BELTA's correspondent the artistic director of the Philharmonic Society, Nelly Matsaberidze. The anniversary festival will offer the public unforgettable encounters with renowned musicians from Belarus, Russia, Poland, Germany, and Latvia. The organ of Vitebsk will be played by the principal organists of Cologne and Riga Cathedrals, professor of the University of Music Winfried Bönig and the organist of the Latvian Philharmonic Talivaldis Deksnis. Along with organ music concerts, the Vitebsk public will be able to hear piano performances by Professor Alexander Mndoyants from Moscow and Professor Andrzej Pikul from the Krakow Academy of Music. Guitar enthusiasts will enjoy classical pieces performed by Moscow musician Dmitry Nilov. On Ivan Sollertinsky's birthday, December 3, young soloist Mikhail Yeletsky will perform on the stage of the Vitebsk Philharmonic Society, accompanied by the orchestra of the National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. The festival will conclude on December 22 with a chamber music concert "Miracle on the Dvina," featuring the ensemble of soloists "Classic-Avant-garde." A bright musical event will be accompanied by an exhibition at the Regional Museum of Local Lore dedicated to famous natives of Vitebsk. Musicologist Dmitry Sollertinsky, Ivan Sollertinsky's son, will bring to Vitebsk a documentary film about Irakli Andronikov, whose stories made Ivan Sollertinsky's name immortal. The I. Sollertinsky Music Festival is held with the support of the Department of Culture of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Department of Culture of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, and the Vitebsk Regional Philharmonic Society. Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky (1902-1944) was a musicologist, theater critic, teacher, professor, and artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic Society. He was born in Vitebsk. He was a recognized specialist in Russian and foreign theatrical art, as well as musical aesthetics and music history. -0-