Sergei Rakhmaninov's Musical Festivals
Close and long-term connections of S.V.Rakhmaninov with the Tambov
region are well known. Over 25 years, almost annually, he spent spring,
summer and quite often autumn in the village of Ivanovka in the Tambov
province. Here S.Rakhmaninov had been found the inexhaustible source
of his creative inspiration and here he wrote most of his best compositions.
He made a valuable contribution to the formation of the Tambov musical school
(since 1996 it is the Tambov State Musical and Pedagogical
Institute named after S.V.Rakhmaninov).
The sponsors of the Rakhmaninov's Musical Festivals in Ivanovka were such
prominent persons as the People's artist of Russian Federation professor
V.K.Merzhanov and the People's artist of Russian Federation Yu.M.Reyentovich
(both graduated the Tambov Musical School and later were the solists in the
Bolshoi Theatre), the People's artists of the USSR Ye.V.Obraztsova and
I.K.Arkhipova, the People's artist of Russian Federation Ye.T.Raikov.
The grand opening of the first Musical Festival took place in June, 15-18,
1982. Since this time (1982-1999) there were eighteen bright Musical
Festivals. The International Advanced Classes in Piano Artistry dedicated to
the memory of S.Rakhmaninov are the final stage of the Musical Festivals.
Besides the International Competitions for young performing pianists
dedicated to the memory of S.Rakhmaninov are annually held in Tambov. They are
the first and the only one in Russia. Its goal is to maintain Russian piano
music, which is a part of national culture but till nowdays had not been
explored and appreciated in full measure. The International Competition
in Tambov is a traditional one and based exclusively on Russian music.
Polyphony, etudes, sonata form, lyric miniatures, suites, variations, piano
concerts are the indispensable condition of this Competition. All these genres
and forms are widely represented in Russian music of the 19th-20th centuries.
Go to previous page