Timofey Mayakin: The Spasskaya Tower Festival to Celebrate its Fifteenth Birthday in the Company of the Russia’s Best Military Music Ensembles

This year, the Spasskaya Tower International Military Tattoo will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary in Moscow’s Red Square from August 26 to September 4 and will, for the first time, feature performances prepared by the bands representing both the Ministry of Defense and all other law enforcement agencies in Russia. Besides, the Festival will showcase cultural and music presentations by performers from Armenia, Belarus, India, Egypt, and Thailand.

In 2022, the Spasskaya Tower Festival will mark its fifteenth birthday, and the preparations for this fabulous celebration of music and art kicked off right after the fourteenth tattoo run ended. Despite the overall challenging environment, the Spasskaya Tower Festival will attract quite an impressive number of participants. “The fifteenth Spasskaya Tower Festival will feature the biggest number of Russian military bands ever. There will be ensembles representing all the national law enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Defense, the National Guard Forces, the Federal Guard Service, the Border Guard Service of the FSB, as well as the Emergency Ministry. All of the bands that have performed on the cobblestones of Red Square over the last fifteen years are well known to Festival audiences. All in all, there will be 1,000 Russian military musicians, with 700 of them belonging to the national Ministry of Defense,” said Major General Timofey Mayakin, Head of the Military Band Service of the Russian Armed Forces-Chief Military Conductor and Music Director of the Festival.
Some of the bands have already become an indinspendable part of the festival. For example, the Central Band of the Russian Navy, named after Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, will make its highly anticipated return to Red Square this August.

The 2022 Spasskaya Tower Festival will honor its years-long traditions by presenting music ensembles from around the world. ‘Over its 14 years of history, the Tattoo welcomed more than 160 artistic groups from 54 countries-a fact highlighting that the event is both highly valued and in great demand. This year, bands from Armenia, India, Belarus, Egypt, and Thailand will travel all the way down to Moscow”, noted Mr. Mayakin.

According to the Festival’s Music Director, this year’s run focuses primarily on providing support to the Russian Armed Forces and all other national law enforcement agencies. “We’d like to showcase all the might of our Army. But our military strength goes hand in hand with our cultural power. And I am sure that audiences will definitely appreciate this idea being carried out at a high-end artistic and professional level with a lot of gripping surprises”, remarked Mr. Mayakin.