The XVIII International Arts Festival "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" will be solemnly opened on July 10

July 9, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The XVIII International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" will be solemnly opened on July 10. More than 5,000 guests from 34 countries will come to the city on the Dvina to participate in this large-scale cultural project of Belarus and Russia, the festival directorate informed a BELTA correspondent. 18 concerts will be held on the main stage of the festival - in the Summer Amphitheater. It is expected that about 100,000 spectators will watch them in the amphitheater alone. The concert programs feature the names of Lara Fabian, Sarah Connor, Raimonds Pauls, Valery Leontiev, Roza Rymbaeva, Sofia Rotaru, Yadviga Poplavskaya and Alexander Tikhanovich, Boris Moiseev, Valery Meladze, Nadezhda Kadysheva. "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" will hear the triumphant "Fairy Tale" by Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak. The Norwegian of Belarusian origin will take part in the solemn opening concert of the festival. According to tradition, concerts of masters of arts from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and Moscow will be held at the festival. One of the largest delegations of artists, painters, and musicians was sent by Latvia - about 100 people. Creative groups and performers from Kazakhstan, Israel, China, and Vietnam will be guests of the festival. For the first time, the flag of Brazil will appear on the festival flagpole. "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" is a long-term, large-scale, interstate cultural event of Belarus and Russia, which is aimed at uniting multinational creative forces, all the most valuable that each national culture is famous for, at the interaction and interpenetration of different cultures, the spiritual unity of the peoples of the world, and the creation of a peaceful community. Therefore, "Slavianski Bazaar" is one of the large-scale cultural projects of the Union State, and its Day has been held at the festival since 2003. At the current festival, on the Day of the Union State, the "Photo Chronicle of the Union State" will be presented, and creative meetings with nominees for the Union State Prize in Literature and Art for 2009-2010 will be held. Traditionally, a press conference of the State Secretary of the Union State, Pavel Borodin, will be held at the festival. On the closing day of the festival, on behalf of the Permanent Committee of the Union State, diplomas and memorable prizes "For Creative Implementation of the Ideas of Friendship of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia" will be awarded to the participants of creative programs. The festival of arts is open and mass in nature, contributing to the revival and development of artistic culture and art. It is designed to support young talents and innovation in artistic culture and art. Artists from 17 countries will take part in the international pop song performers competition "Vitebsk-2009". Belarus will be represented in the competition by a soloist of the Gomel Regional Philharmonic, 23-year-old Andrey Kolosov, a laureate of the second prize of the international festival of pop creativity "Starry Crimea". The international jury of the competition will be headed by Laima Vaikule. No sooner will the fanfares in honor of the Grand Prix winner of the adult competition die down, than the children's music competition "Vitebsk-2009" will pick up the competitive baton. 19 young talents from 16 countries will take part in it. Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine have delegated two performers each. Two Minsk residents have been entrusted to represent Belarus - seven-year-old Masha Novik from the National Center for Musical Arts and 11-year-old Lolita Gaydukevich. Both girls are laureates of international competitions. The jury of the children's competition will be headed by People's Artist of Belarus Leonid Zakhlevny. The future stars, who will surely be lit up by the festival, will take the first step towards the most honorable award of the festival - "Through Art - to Peace and Mutual Understanding". It was established by a decree of the head of state in 2005 and is awarded to cultural and art figures, creative groups, and organizations that have made a significant contribution to strengthening international cultural cooperation, promoting achievements and examples of world artistic culture based on humanistic ideals and values. The first laureate of the prize in 2005 was the Russian composer Andrey Petrov. In 2006, Alla Pugacheva was awarded this prize, in 2007 - Sofia Rotaru, in 2008 - Alexandra Pakhmutova. The names of these renowned artists and the laureate of 2009 will be immortalized for the first time on the Alley of Fame at the Summer Amphitheater. "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" is not just pop concerts. More than 70 events of various directions will be held during the XVIII International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk". Vitebsk will turn into a City of Masters. Masters of folk crafts from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine will come to the fair, which will be located in the Center of Folk Crafts "Zadvine". Vitebsk, Smolensk, Pskov artisans and guests from Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, will show their works here. A huge number of creative meetings with artists and writers are planned for the festival. Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Mikhail Kozakov, performances by Moscow theaters, and meetings with masters of Israeli opera - all this has been prepared by the XVIII International Festival of Arts. Guests of the festival will be treated to an exhibition of 100 etchings by Marc Chagall - illustrations for N. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls". About 600 representatives of mass media and Internet resources will cover the events of "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk". Accredited journalists include those from Russia, Great Britain, Germany, the USA, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and other countries. Concert broadcasts of the festival will be carried out by "Belteлерадиокомпания" and the "Russia" TV channel. For the first time, Russian viewers will see in full the performances of the young performers' competition participants. In addition, Russians will watch recordings of the opening and closing concerts of the festival and the days of national cultures - Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Belarusian viewers will be able to watch the festival extravaganza live - all concerts, except for solo night performances, will be broadcast on the First Television Channel. From the budget of the Union State, 24 million 896 thousand Russian rubles have been allocated for the "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" festival. The Russian share is 9 million 300 thousand rubles, and Belarus's share is 15 million 596 thousand Russian rubles. The XVIII International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" will be held this year from July 10 to July 16. -0-