"Stars of the Albion. Grand Prix 2018" The Featival and Contest Reach New Heights
From 16 to 18 February 2018, the Festival and Contest of Performing Arts “Stars of the Albion. Grand Prix 2018” will take place in London. Art Around The Globe met the organiser and director of the festival, Evgenia Terentieva.
Evgenia, could you please tell us what is the difference between the current festival and previous ones?
This year we are continuing our glorious tradition of the festivals held by our Academy “Musica Nova”, and the present one is going to be the fifth. We carry out such an event twice a year - in February and in July. This project is very successful, due to the huge potential and unique methods that we have accumulated through many years of artistic and managing experience. I am glad that the contest enjoys a huge popularity and that this year we will have world-class musicians, actors, directors, choreographers from Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Georgia, Estonia and America. This time the programme of the festival has been greatly extended: the three days of the festival are filled with concerts, master classes and other events open to the general public. I would like to thank cordially our constant partners and personally the director of Rossotrudnichestvo in UK, Anton Chesnokov, and the director of Britannia Business Consulting, Tatiana Farkhatova, for their continuing support of the project. The festival and contest “Stars of the Albion” has its own cohesive team of like-minded people. The artistic director of the festival and contest “Stars of the Albion. Grand Prix 2018” is theatre critic Natalia Kolosova, PhD.
Could you please tell us about the programme of the festival?
The festival and contest will have a gala opening on 16 February at 6.30 pm at the Russian Cultural Centre, Rossotrudnichestvo, in London. The audience will enjoy a concert by the laureates of previous festivals “Stars of the Albion” and members of the jury. India will be represented by Dev Joshi, an astonishing performer specialising in many song genres of Indian music, a multi-instrumentalist and producer. His recordings are in great demand around the world. Our guest from Canada, Nik Sergienko, the founder and director of “Amadeus Academy”, will also take part in the concert. The audience will have an opportunity to hear George Harliono, a wonderful young British pianist, who has gained recognition through his work with such world-class musicians as Valery Gergiev and Denis Matsuev. Another great singer taking part in the concert is Alexa Pol: she is also a composer and the Head of the Department of Modern Music at the Academy “Musica Nova”. So our concert promises to be really splendid.
On Saturday, 17 February, the first day of the contest will be held. At 7 pm in the evening there will be the concert by our guest from America, David Serero, who is known as ‘`the baritone with Russian soul”. David is coming with a very interesting programme: it’s a one man show with musical performances and plenty of humour. I believe that this is going to be one of the mostbright and memorable moments of the festival programme.
On Sunday, 18 February, at 6.30 pm the festive closing ceremony will take place with a gala-concert at the Rudolf Steiner Theatre, situated in central London, near Baker Street. In this concert the winners of the current contest “Stars of the Albion” will take part, as well as the master of Russian romance, Youri Verevkin, who was the winner of the contest held in 2016, and members of the jury. Among them will be the laureate of international contests, an amazing coloratura soprano, Maria Veretenina, and our other guest from America, Gerard Edery, a famous musician specialising in sephardic music.
I am really pleased that on the basis of our Russian culture we are able to unite various countries and nations. Our aim is to create a platform for young people to communicate, to evolve and to be able to adopt the experiences of masters and great artists from other countries. This is very important, in order not only to evaluate your own level but also to understand the importance of purposeful pursuits, so as to reveal the secrets of a performer’s art. We are expecting participants from Russia, Great Britain, Malta, America, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Greece, Philippines, Cyprus, Estonia, India, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia and Ghana. The laureates of national youth Eurovision contests are joining our competition, so the level is going to be very high.
The program of your festival demonstrates the true synthesis of the arts. What does this diversity of genres mean to you?
Yes, it is very important that, apart from the concerts and musical programme, we also present other fields of art: dance, theatre, fine art and photography. The idea is to demonstrate the diversity and multidimensionality of the performing arts. The contest has a huge range in the sense of age and the number of various arts the participants compete in. The language of art is universal and it is understandable for every culture. The bridge between Russian and British culture and their merger with various other cultures are very important. We will do our best to transform this festival into a true and unforgettable celebration of art. We will be glad to greet as many members of the audience as possible at our events, and we hope that everyone will vote for the performer they like the most during the competition process, and that they will take away vivid memories of the “Stars of the Albion”.
David Serero, baritone:
I have always dreamed to be part of this great festival and this amazing experience. This festival offers an amazing opportunity for every performer. As I am Russian at heart, this is the perfect bridge of Russian Culture and the Arts. I am deeply honoured to be part of it and am looking forward to it! I have always dreamed to be part of this great festival and this amazing experience. This festival offers an amazing opportunity for every performer. As I am Russian at heart, this is the perfect bridge between Russian Culture and the Arts. I am deeply honoured to be part of it and am looking forward to it!
You can find more information at: www.starsofthealbion.org.uk
First published at: www.artaroundtheglobe.com
