The Pyatnitsky Choir celebrated its centenary at the "Slavianski Bazaar"

July 14, Vitebsk /Eduard Pivovar - BELTA/. The Pyatnitsky Russian Folk Choir celebrated its centenary at the XX International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk". The concert of this renowned ensemble concluded the program of Russia Day at the Vitebsk forum late last night, BELTA correspondent reports.

Since the very foundation of "Slavianski Bazaar", a beautiful tradition has been established to celebrate various anniversaries there. However, no one has celebrated their 100th anniversary at the Vitebsk forum yet. Therefore, such an event was initially bound to be unique and unforgettable.

"This year, we have brought a gem of Russian culture to Vitebsk, as the Pyatnitsky Choir is a heritage of all Slavic peoples," said Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev, greeting the audience and thanking the festival organizers and Vitebsk spectators for their love of national culture.

The Pyatnitsky Choir began celebrating its 100th anniversary in March with a concert at the Kremlin Palace, where a program of works collected from 20 Russian regions was presented. Then, a concert took place at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, during which the ensemble was congratulated by their colleagues in the folk music field. The performance in Vitebsk concluded the anniversary celebrations. For this occasion, the choir artists undertook a daring experiment: for the first time in the ensemble's 100-year history, a joint two-hour program with pop stars was presented. And for the first time, it consisted entirely of Russian folk songs, with not a single original composition performed.

The ensemble prepared very seriously for their performance at "Slavyansky Bazaar": the program was created over several months. Pop artists who took part in the concert visited the choir several times, listened to its vast repertoire to choose a suitable song for themselves. Larisa Dolina chose "Oy, tumany...", Tamara Gverdtsiteli chose "Oy, to ne vecher...", Dmitry Pevtsov and Zara chose "Oy, ty step' shirokaya"... And the finale of the concert became a true symbol of "Slavyansky Bazaar": the Belarusian song "Neman", the Ukrainian "Oy, chornaya ya chi chornaya" and the Russian "Korobochka" were performed. -0-