On January 15, 2018, Rimsky-Korsakov Central Navy Band of Russia, which participates regularly in the Spasskaya Tower Festival, played the gala concert dedicated to the King of the Waltz Johann Strauss in the Great Hall of the Conservatory.
The Big Strauss Concert starred the brilliant solo performers — insrtumentalists and vocalists, laureates of international competitions: Vasily Popov (cello), Nikolay Popov (flute), Nataliya Shmitt (soprano), Irina Reinard (mezzo-soprano), Dmitry Khromov (tenor), and the debutant — Gerard Karpenko (baritone). The bandmaster is Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Captain Aleksey Karabanov. The band played waltz, polka, and galop music, fragments of The Bat operetta by Johann Strauss II, the Variations on a Rococo Theme by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the Menuet and the Badinerie from the Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. The high point of the concert was Nikolay Popov’s flute playing his own virtuoso Fantasy on themes from The Bat operetta for flute and orchestra.
All the music pieces played have been orchestrated for a brass band by Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Captain Aleksey Karabanov — the chief bandmaster and artistic director of the band.
