Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk welcomes 5 thousand guests from 34 countries

VITEBSK, 10 July (BelTA) – The 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk will officially open on 10 July. More than 5,000 guests from 34 countries will come to take part in this large-scale cultural project of Belarus and Russia, BelTA learnt from the directorate of the festival. Some 18 shows will be presented on the stage of the Summer Amphitheater of Vitebsk. Around 100,000 spectators are expected to attend them. In the showbill you may see the names of Lara Fabian, Sarah Connor, Raimonds Pauls, Valery Leontiev, Roza Rymbaeva, Sophia Rotaru, Yadviga Poplavskaya and Alexander Tikhanovich, Boris Moiseev, Valery Meladze, Nadezhda Kadysheva and Alexander Rybak. The Belarusian Norwegian will take part in the Slavonic Bazaar opening ceremony. Traditionally, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Moscow will give their concerts. Latvia has sent one of the biggest delegations – around 100 people – singers, artists and musicians. The audience will also see performances by artists from Kazakhstan, Israel, China, and Vietnam. The first-time participant is Brazil. Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is a long-term large-scale interstate cultural project of Belarus and Russia which aims to promote cooperation between different cultures and spiritual unity of the peoples of the world. The festival contributes to the revival and development of culture and arts. It aims to support young talents and new trends in culture and arts. Young singers from 17 countries will take part in the Vitebsk-2009 song contest. The international jury will be headed by Laima Vaikule. This contest will be followed by the Vitebsk 2009 juniour song contest. Taking part in the event will be 19 children from 16 countries (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have sent two young singers each). The Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk is not only about pop music. More than 70 various events will be held during the 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. Craftsmen from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine will present their works in the Zadvinje Folk-Crafts Centre. A great number of meetings with artistes and writers are scheduled. Performances of Moscow theaters, meetings with singers of the Israeli opera, an exhibition of Marc Chagall’s works are also on the programme. Around 600 representatives of mass media and Internet outlets will cover the international festival of arts in Vitebsk. These are journalists from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Great Britain, the USA, Germany, China and Macedonia. Concerts of the festival will be broadcast by the Belarus National TV and Radio Company and Rossiya TV Channel of Russia. The budget of the Belarus-Russia Union State allocated around RUB25 million for the festival. The contrinution of the Russian side is RUB9 million 300 thousand, the share of Belarus is RUB15 million 596 thousand. The 18th international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk will be running from 10 July to 16 July.

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