The second day of the Spasskaya Tower Children and Youth Wind Bands Festival commenced on Red Square on Tuesday, August 27. With the long-standing support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the event welcomed young musicians from Belgorod, Luhansk People's Republic, Moscow and Saratov.
The lineup of the 2024 festival comprises children and youth ensembles that won the 2023 online qualifying round.
Among this year’s debutants was the Saratov Band Children's Wind Ensemble. Young talents treated the stands to an array of music pieces, including Vasily Bekker’s march The Joy of Victory, which was presented at the Great Victory Parade of 1945 for the first time. The ensemble concluded their performance with the song Sky of Slavs, composed by Konstantin Kinchev, the frontman of the highly acclaimed Alisa rock band. To the ovations of the audiences, the children happily left the cobblestones and passed the floor to the Haydn-Band Wind Ensemble of the Joseph Haydn Moscow Music School. And sounds of strict military marches and flowy tunes engulfed Red Square.
The Exemplary Combined Band of the Molodogvardeyskaya Art School from Luhansk decided to pay homage both to their native land and to Moscow. Despite the anxiety, the young stars did their best, performing a variety of music styles.
The Belogorie Fanfares Combined Children's Wind Band was the ensemble wrapped up the festival's second day. Musicians have put together a versatile program featuring, that includes Russian popular folk songs such as Kalinka and Barynya, among others. To conclude, the ensemble performed Let the Sun Always Shine. The poem, which was composed nearly a century ago, by a young Soviet boy named Kostya Barannikov, has undoubtedly retained its relevance, particularly in contemporary times.
The Spasskaya Tower for Kids is a special project carried out by the Spasskaya Tower International Cultural Center since 2013. The project includes an array of entertaining and educational activities, as well as an opportunity for some of the best young musicians in Russia to participate in the Spasskaya Tower Children and Youth Wind Bands Festival and gain valuable experience performing in front of hundreds of guests and residents of Moscow.
Since its inception in 2014, the Children and Youth Bands Festival has been extending its reach both in numbers and geographically. The organizers are committed to discovering and supporting young, talented musicians, as well as promoting conditions for their cultural growth.
