ST. PETERSBURG—The Educational Bridge Project’s seventeenth annual Russian-American festival began in St. Petersburg on May 13th and continued through May 24th. The festival, comprised of twenty plus events, involved more than one hundred Russian participants, from a children's chorus and actor's studio to professional actors, musicians, artists and professors.  Many of them have participated in previous festivals; among them were Anna Konivets, Natalia Katonova, Svetlana Nesterova, Viacheslav Kruglik, Zinaida Kartasheva, Mikhail Krutik, Elena Grigorieva, Maria Grigorieva, Igor Uryash, Tatiana Kholostova, Igor Zolotarev, and many others.  While most of the festival’s events took place in St. Petersburg, some of them were in Moscow.

The US participants of this year represented several cultural and educational institutions all over the country. Four of them graduated from Boston University within the last few years:  Jennifer Thomas (violist), Sara Sitzer (cellist), Maura Matlak (singer, songwriter), and Daniel DeBonis (editor). Among the other pariticipants were:  Martin Goldsmith (radio commentator and author from Washington D. C.), Ivan Eubanks (editor of Pushkin Review / Пушкинский вестник, lecturer at Boston University), Guila Clara Kessous (actress, director, human rights activist), and Ludmilla Leibman (executive director, EBP).

The festival's program consisted of three traditional segments:  "Concerts with Historic Commentaries," Workshops and Pedagogy, and "Musical Evenings - Together Again."  One of the main focal points was the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the victory over fascism.  The musical compositions included in the "Concerts with Historic Commentaries" were those most representative of the era - Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Times" (1941), songs by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, Hans Krasa's children's opera Brundibar, and Soviet songs sung by Russian soldiers during World War II. 

Among the highlights of the festival were the evening at the U. S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg, the conert at the Hermitage Museum, a presentation at the Russian Institute of Research in the Arts (Российский Институт Истории Искусств), and student conferences at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute (Государственный Педагогический Институт им. Герцена) and the Baltic Technical University.

The full program of the festival is listed below.

Educational Bridge Project

17^th Festival - May 2010

FROM BOSTON TO SAINT-PETERSBURG

Organizational Committee:

Anna Konivets (member, Advisory Board),

Olga Galitskaya, Zinaida Kartasheva, Natalia Katonova,

Ludmilla Leibman, Tatiana Tchernova

Festival’s sponsors:

Art of Care

John A. and Harriet S. Carey

Joe Lewis Jefferson Fund

Barbara Tornow

Please note that all festival’s events are free of charge

PROGRAM

Thursday, May 13

11 a.m. – 12 noon Radio and Cable TV of the St. Petersburg Frunzenskiy District: Interview with Ludmilla Leibman

Friday, May 14

11 a.m. – 12 noon National Russian Library: Presentation by the American delegation:  “Highlights of the 17^th Educational Bridge Project’s Festival”

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Pushkin Library: “Concert with Historic Commentaries” - Jennifer Thomas’ presentation on “Different Trains” by American composer Steve Reich

4 p.m. – 5 p.m. State Hermitage Museum’s Theater: Concert for veterans, dedicated to the 65^th Anniversary of the Victory in WWII

6 p.m. – 9 p.m. US Consulate General in St. Petersburg: Welcoming reception for the festival’s participants