Yesterday, November 15, the Seventh St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum hosted the Theatre of Masses Award ceremony with the Military Bands in the Parks by the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival wining the main prize.
The jury appreciated the organization of the whole project and saw the true value of its cultural aspect pointing out its large potential and great future ahead.
Supported by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Government of Moscow, the program is being carried out by the Directorate of the Spasskaya Tower Festival since 2016. Military musicians give their concerts onstage of different city open venues.
In 2018 thirteen Moscow’s parks, squares and gardens took part in the project hosting sixteen concerts and scoring the audience of fifty thousand Muscovites and guests of the capital.
For the first time the Military Bands in the Parks saw light onsite VDNH in 2016. The audiences were so enthusiastic about the concerts that it was decided to make it annual. In 2017 the project broadened its program increasing the number not only of performances but of concerts venues as well.
“Summers of the last two seasons in Moscow’s parks and gardens were full of beautiful music presented to us by some of the best military bands of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Russian Emergencies Ministry and National Guard Forces, all being participants of the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival. Music is one of the best means that helps us to preserve history and create. It makes people happy and touches the very best strings of human hearts and souls. Thus, making it available to every single person is the main aim of the Military Bands in the Parks”, stressed Mr. Sergey Smirnov, Head of the Spasskaya Tower Festival Directorate.
The award ceremony was held in the Moskovsky Culture and Recreation Centre. It was preceded by the solemn opening of an exhibition dedicated to the Centenary of the Theatre of Masses in Russia.
The Theatre of Masses Award is held within the broader award called Faces of the Theatre of Masses. Set up upon the initiative of the Council of the Union of Theater Professionals of Russia for Mass Forms of Theatrical Art the Faces of the Theatre of Masses is being awarded since 2005. Its affiliate is much younger. It was established by the International Union of Performing Arts Professionals with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in 2018 and dedicated to the centenary of the Theatre of Masses in Russia.
The Faces of the Theatre of Masses is a professional award for creative achievements in the field of mass forms of the theatrical art involving a large number of performers, fine technical facilities and big audiences. The main trophy of the award is called “Faces”. It is a green malachite pedestal with a crystalline polygon on top of it united by a golden theater mask. It symbolizes both the ground where all the Theatre of Masses professionals should stand firm and the
Among this year’s nominees there were more than 80 projects from all over Russia including participants from both capitals as well as big and small cities, for example Kazan, Kostroma, Krasnodar Astrakhan, Birobijan, Vladimir, Ekaterinburg, Magadan, Murmansk, Orel, Ryazan,