The First All-Russian Musical Festival of Soviet Song "Voices of the Heirs"

The festival opened with a welcoming speech by Pelageya Mafenbayer, the festival's program director. The producer noted that preparations for the festival had taken more than a year and had become an important milestone in the development of the Arte Musicum concert and production center, the project's organizer. "The name of our festival is no coincidence," Pelageya emphasized. "The Voices of the Heirs are the voices of those who carefully preserve and pass on the great legacy of Soviet song. Songs that sounded in the rear and at the front, that were sung around the campfire and from grand stages. Songs that united millions of people, regardless of age, profession, and place of residence." The producer wished everyone a good mood and urged them to sing their favorite songs together with the ensembles performing on stage. Throughout all days of the festival, a huge screen displaying the lyrics of the pieces will operate on stage: the festival is designed so that the audience doesn't just listen, but sings along with the orchestra and their neighbors in the row.

The opening of the festival on August 1 coincided with the birthday of the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNH), which is celebrating its 87th anniversary this year: "Voices of the Heirs" is part of the event program celebrating the country's main exhibition, which acts as a festival partner. Elena Ivanovna Zhuk, Deputy General Director for Development at VDNH, also welcomed the audience from the stage: "It is important to us that on this very day, VDNH's birthday, the festival opens with a concert by our friends and partners, the A. V. Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army, whose performance of the VDNH anthem sounds here five times a day, every day."

Oleg Yuryevich Leonov, Deputy of the State Duma and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Development of Civil Society, Issues of Public and Religious Associations, also delivered a welcoming speech. "The festival is called 'Voices of the Heirs' because a country has a future only if it has memory and continuity of generations." The deputy emphasized that it is exactly through song that the thoughts and emotions of one generation are best conveyed to another, which is why this festival "is not only a memory of the past, but also a bridge to the future."

During the concert, the A. V. Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army performed over twenty compositions—songs born in the trenches, hospitals, and in the rear, as well as folk melodies that the ensemble performs all over the world. The audience gave a standing ovation to the performance of A. Alexandrov's famous piece, "The Sacred War". After that, the spectators were able to enjoy the performance of such beloved melodies as "In the Sunny Glade", "Smuglyanka", "The Crew is One Family", "I Was Traveling from Berlin", "The Dark-Eyed Cossack Girl", and others. The dance numbers of the program caused special enthusiasm in the hall: the dashing dances "Cossack Cavalry", "Sailor's Lady", and "Russian Dance". The ensemble's dance group amazed the audience with the technical perfection of each number's execution, highly complex choreography, and the incredible fervor of the artists. The program was continued by a block of universally loved songs: "Korobeiniki", "Along the Piterskaya", "Hey, Coachman, Drive to the 'Yar'", "Katyusha", and, of course, "Kalinka". The program concluded with the VDNH anthem, after which, following prolonged ovations from the audience, "Moscow Nights" was performed as an encore, the words of which were picked up by the entire auditorium.

The large-scale festival will continue on August 2 with the "Soviet Estrada" program: performed by the Yu. V. Silantyev Academic Grand Concert Orchestra, as well as soloists Sergey Volchkov, Anna Buturlina, Sofya Onopchenko, and other artists, songs known to every family will be played: "Hope", "Tenderness", "How Young We Were", "The Song Stays with a Person", "Wake Up and Sing", and dozens of other hits from the 1960s-80s. The evening will be hosted by Tatyana Sudets—Merited Artist of Russia, announcer, and Central Television presenter since 1972.

On August 3, the Grand Jazz Orchestra conducted by Pyotr Vostokov will perform masterpieces of Soviet jazz. The orchestra plays from restored scores, bringing back to life music that has not been performed for decades. The evening's program features music by Alexander Tsfasman, Isaac Dunayevsky, Andrey Petrov, Oleg Lundstrem, Anatoly Kroll, and other masters.

The festival will conclude on August 4 with the "Bridge of Generations" concert. The Imperialis Orchestra chamber ensemble will offer listeners a symphonic reading of Soviet songs in modern arrangements. "Beautiful Faraway", "Winged Swings", themes from "Well, Just You Wait!", songs about Moscow "Alexandra" and "I Step Through Moscow", the main rock hits of the era, and many other songs. Young artists for whom Soviet song is a natural part of their repertoire will take the stage: Nikolay Timokhin, Victoria Bars, and Milana Ponomarenko, a finalist in the tenth season of "The Voice. Kids", whose performance of "Beautiful Faraway" became one of her most famous works. The closing ceremony will be hosted by young correspondents from the "Progovori" media school: it is they, the new generation, who are passing the baton forward. Hence the name of the evening—"Bridge of Generations".

Each of the four evenings is dedicated to a specific layer of Soviet musical culture—from songs of the war years to symphonic interpretations of melodies that the country grew up on. Four evenings, four big concerts, and one common story—about the music that became the country's cultural code and connected several generations with a common language. In addition to the musical program, on August 1 and 2, a chess tournament with one of the largest chess communities, Rep Chess, will be organized for all guests at the festival, and a thematic retro photo zone operates on all days of the festival.

The festival is being implemented by the "Arte Musicum" concert and production center as part of the "Musical Festival of Soviet Song 'The Heirs'" project, with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, which underscores its significance for the preservation and actualization of the national cultural heritage.