The stage of the "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" festival has been transformed into a hall with palace columns
The first concerts of "Slavianski Bazaar" will take place on Tuesday, July 7. Final preparations are underway at the Summer Amphitheatre.
For the third year, the author of the scenography for the festival's main concert venue is Alexander Kholodnov, winner of the Russian National Television Award "TEFI," known for his projects "Golden Gramophone," "Song of the Year," and "New Wave."
This year, artists will perform in a ceremonial hall resembling a huge music hall with palace columns and majestic chandeliers.
Three large video screens have been installed on the stage. The central screen measures 6.3x6.3 meters. The two side screens will be slightly smaller: 6x4 meters. The LED "filling" of the stage structures includes over two thousand modules. Each of them needs to be placed in its position, connected, and supplied with a video signal.
During the installation days, the amphitheater stage resembles an anthill: dozens of people scurry back and forth, moving hundreds of boxes with equipment (three trucks have delivered it!). However, after observing the process for about two hours, it becomes clear that this chaos is very competently organized. And behind it lies months of work by the festival's technical team.
– Everything starts with the production designer's idea. My job is to visualize what the artist has drawn, break down their idea into light, video, sound, and scenography, assign technical tasks for each, and then resolve any issues that arise. Each artist has an individual technical rider, and we try to fit it within the festival's framework as best we can, and reaching an agreement with everyone is a huge part of the work. It is especially important to provide musicians with what they need. We search for and rent equipment for many of them.
Several concerts are held on the festival stage daily, with programs ranging from ethnography to contemporary music. Therefore, the venue needs to be as adaptable as possible, said Pavel Adamenko, head of the technical group:
The decorations are being installed by Moscow companies "DekArt" and "Stels-7". Both firms are long-time partners of the festival and are well acquainted with the configuration of the amphitheater stage. According to Alexander Kantorovich, head of the technical group "Stels-7", it is quite complex:
– Firstly, the venue is very large – six thousand seats, while the Kremlin Palace, for example, has a thousand fewer. Due to the configuration of the auditorium, the scenography looks completely different in the upper and lower sectors, which must be taken into account. Secondly, it is an open-air venue, which presents weather-related challenges.
It is well known that the festival is not complete without rain, so measures must be taken to shelter from it. About three years ago, there was such a hurricane with horizontal rain that everything had to be shut down, and the concert of Leontiev was held on an empty stage because there was a risk of losing all equipment.
This year, the stage of the "Vitebsk" concert hall will also be transformed. For the first time, LED screens from SOOO "PR-Lighting-touring" will be rented for it, a multi-level podium with lighting will be installed, and 3D video projections will appear during the concert.
As the technical wizards of the stage joke, people come to a concert to be deafened and blinded – in this sense, the success of all festival concerts is guaranteed, as is a stunning television picture.
Olga Kruchenkova, SB Belarus Segodnya