The opening ceremony of the 27th edition of the International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk will take place in the Summer Amphitheater on 12 July, BelTA has learned.

The opening of the cultural forum will be preceded by a spectacular ceremony. Wind bands, drummer girls and majorettes will show up in the city streets at noon to invite local residents and visitors to the Summer Amphitheater complex. A flag of the festival will be raised along the flags of the participating states at noon. A bit later Roza Rymbayeva, holder of the special award of the Belarusian president Through Art To Peace and Understanding, will have her name immortalized on the Celebrity Square. After that, the focus will be shifted to rising stars, whose way to stardom will begin at the International Song Contest Vitebsk 2018. The procedure for the semi-final draw of the contest will take place on this square.

By this time the winner of the 26th edition of the International Junior Song Contest Vitebsk 2018 will already be known. The gala concert and the award ceremony will take place in the Vitebsk Concert Hall at 17:00. The Grand Prix holder will take to the stage of the Summer Amphitheater during the Slavianski Bazaar opening concert that will kick off at 20:30. Taking part in the concert will be Nikolai Baskov, Irina Allegrova, Zara, Igor Nikolayev, Oleg Menshikov and his Dream Orchestra, the Vivaldi Orchestra conducted by Svetlana Bezrodnaya, the renowned Turetsky Choir, Gzhel Moscow State Academic Dance Theater; Inna Afanasieva, Irina Dorofeyeva, Ruslan Alekhno, Anatoly Yarmolenko and the Syabry music group, Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, Rafael, Natalia Oreiro, Taisia Povaliy, Roza Rymbayeva, Dimash Kudaibergen and many more.

There will be a number of other sold-out concerts and performances. The Moscow Modern Art Theater from Russia will present The California Tango based on the play of one of the most famous Soviet drama playwrights Boris Ratzer. The performance will run in the National Academic Drama Theater in Vitebsk.

Children and their parents will certainly enjoy performances by the Belarusian Lyalka Theater that will be held twice a day in the Puppet Quarter. The festivities will engulf the entire city. The first events of the Street Art Fest will unfold near the Pushkin bridge and the adjacent square, near the Modern Art Center, Frunze Park and the Lyalka Theater. The fest will bring together a plethora of dancers, musicians, artists, theater actors, and many other performers. The NON STOP parade will commence in the Frunze Park at 20:00. Its participants will march to the Pushkin Square in a flamboyant procession.

The 27th edition of the International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk will be held from 12 to 16 July. Additional events are scheduled for 7-11 July and 17-18 July.

BELARUSIAN NEWS