1998

Ансамбль Вирского

In 1998 the festival became a joint cultural project of two countries - Russia and Belarus supported at the state level. Staring from 1998 the festival has been called "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk", its name emphasizing the belonging of the festival to Vitebsk.

There were 115 cultural events visited by 150000 people, among them 50 concerts visited by 100 000 people.

4500 participants and gusts came to the festival from 26 countries of the world - Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, UK, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the USA, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Georgia, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea and Japan.

That year Vitebsk Summer Amphitheatre celebrated its 10th anniversary. Its first concert took place in 1988 before the Polish Song Contest and since that time there have been more than 250 concerts watched by more than 1 million people.

The biggest delegation was represented by the hosts of the festival - Belarusian delegation with 853 people, 268 people represented Ukraine at the festival.

Simultaneously different events took place at 8 festival venues. There were 16 concerts in the amphitheatre, Cultural and Business Center "Kim" - 14. Yakub Kolas Theatre hosted 5 concert programmes "U Deviaty Muz", 13 times "Jazz Club" and City Culture Centre held meetings with stars.

Коллаж

The members of the Ukrainian delegation decided to enter the city with an orchestra and walk like this along the main street of the city. Having formed one column, 300 dancers, musicians and other guests of the festival moved towards the City Tower. Children dressed in a traditional national way were marching at the front carrying the state Ukrainian flag. The fonder of Vitebsk Kiev Princess Olga was marching after them with Prince Vladimir. They were followed by warriors and artists dressed like characters of fairy tales stories. A huge 3 meter long man walking on stilts attracted everybody's attention. He was depicting an angel with enormous wings.

It was the first time the artist from Italy, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and Japan had taken part in the festival.

The international Jury consisted from 16 people representing 9 countries.

At the International Competition of Child Concert Programmes 650 young artists from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Israel, Poland, Yugoslavia and Georgia took part.

The International Competition of Child Concert Programmes was a kind of foreword to the festival. The jury at this festival consisted of children, the chairman was a 16 year old composer and musician from Ukraine Eugenie Moscalenko, and the youngest member was only 9 years old - a singer Anastasia Zhuk from Vitebsk. The participants of the International Competition of Child Concert programmes performed at the open venues of the city, in summer camps and in the prison for underage offenders.

More than 250 journalists representing 50 editions were accredited for the festival. The Belarusian press was represented by the following periodicals - "Respublika", "Zvezda", "Narodnaya Gazeta", "Sovetskaya Belarus", "Znamya Yunosty", "Chirvonaya Zmena", "Litaratura i Mastatstva", "Kultura".

The Russian press was represented by the newspapers "Pravda", "Trud", "Izvestiya", "Sobesednik", "Kommersant Daily", "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", "Ogoniok", "Puls", "Teleman".

Афиша. 1998 год

The Ukrainian press - "Kievskie Vedomosti", "Bulvar", "Den", "Fakty", Stolichnaya", "Luna" agency.

The events at the festival were covered by ORT, TV Russia, NTV, Belarusian Channel, 1st National Channel of Ukraine and other TV channels and programmes.

14 issues of the "Festival Diary" came out.

The cinema programme included 9 feature films and 7 documentaries. Cartoons also appeared in the programme.

142 craftsmen and artist presented their works in the Craft Town - potters, blacksmiths, engravers and others.

48 folk groups from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland participated in the folk concert.

It was the first time the folk groups from Italy and Israel had taken part in the concerts.

One of the most interesting events of the festival was a gala-concert "City of My Youth" devoted to the memory of Mikhail Fradkin, National Artist of USSR, a song poet who was born in Vitebsk. At the concert his songs were performed not only by famous artists but also by young ones.

Probably neither Belarus nor even Russia had ever seen the ballet concert held at the festival and called "Soul Fly".

For the first time the performances were given not only on stage but even under the dome of the amphitheatre. Unforgettable circus stunts were made by a young circus artist Anton Chelnokov.

День Беларуси

The person who got the grand prize performed a Belarusian song by Igor Luchenok and Genadiy Buravkin "Zacharavanaya", half of the song was performed in Belarusian and the second half in Hebrew.

At the Tysiacheletie Square chorus collectives from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine performed in the open air.

The audience was impressed by the "Night Chorus Assembly", a charity concert to support the reconstruction of the Church Svyatogo Uspenia. 10 collectives took part in the event.

Jazz concert devoted to 100th anniversary of the great American jazz artist George Gershwin was called "Hello George". All 758 places of the Yakub Kolas Theatre were reserved and the presenter at the concert was Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Feyertag.

Brilliant artists took part in the concert "Jazz Panorama" - Daniil Kramer, Gasan Bagirov, Robert Piliakalnis, John Low trio and others.

The programme "Star Hour" enabled the journalists to meet great stars - Laima Vaikule, Valeriy Leontiev, Viacheslav Zaitsev, Vasiliy Rainchik, Oleg Tiunov, Oleg Gazmanov, Andris and Ilse Liepa, and others. All in all there were 12 meeting with cinema, music, and theatre stars.

In the project "Fashion and Music of the New Generation" 50 clothes designers and the same number of models took part. In the stage decorations national Slavic symbols were used and the entrance to the stage was in the form of a big flower where the models made their entrance and exit. When music performances began the flower turned into a stage.

Every day one of the countries participating in the project presented the collection of their clothes designers. The Show began with the presentation of Viacheslav Zaitsev collection "Turning the Pages of the Memory" The art director of the Belarusian Fashion Center Nina Ostapenko called Vitebsk "pearl of Belarusian fashion"

The circus programme "Parad Alle" was a pleasant surprise for everybody. The circus was located at the courts of the amphitheatre. It was the first time that traditional concert "Rock at Midnight" became international - the bands from Germany took part in it alongside with the Belarusian performers.

There were 8 exhibitions of painting, ceramics, graphics, and art photos.

Warsaw Art Museum brought here in Vitebsk a magnificent photo exhibition "Adam Mitskevich" the specialists said there had never been such an interesting and modern collection of works about the life of the poet presented in Vitebsk before.

The participants and the guests of the festival could also enjoy one more photo exhibition "Summer Amphitheatre is 10 Years Old". While stars performed on stage, great photo artists made their beautiful shots.

Russian Minister of Culture Natalia Dementieva opened an exhibition of applied arts works in the City Tower "Russian Mosaic". The works presented there were taken from the collection of the Russian House of Folk Arts.

The delegation representing Luzhitsk Sorbs came to the festival. This is the scantiest Slavic nationality in Europe; 60 thousand of them live in Germany now near Dresden.

Мэр Москвы Юрий Лужков

The web-site "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" opened on the Internet. Now anyone can find any information connected with the festival. The site was updated regularly as soon as new information about the competition, concerts and other events came. The head of the Internet service is O. Salnikova, Web designers - A. Gorbunov, G. Shulman, A. Ermak.

"Vitebsk - Festival City". This photo album was published by the Board of Directors of the International Arts Festival together with the Press Centre. It describes the festival, the Festival of Polish Song which was the beginning of the festival movement in Vitebsk, about the Chagall Plain air and other interesting events of the city life.

It was the first time the Celebration of Belarusian National Cuisine was held. Masters of this form of art came to Vitebsk from many corners of the country to show their skills. Anyone could taste their works right on the spot.

At the Victory Square there was the event called "Celebration of Russian Toys". It was presented by the Russian State House of Folk Arts.