2007 Press Releases
Van Cliburn and the Tchaikovskiy Festival in Izhevsk
April 20, 2007
On April 16th, a gala concert for the Fiftieth Annual Tchaikovskiy Festival in Izhevsk featured two world class American musicians: violinist Yuval Waldman and the winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medal, cellist Nathaniel Rosen.
At the opening of the concert, the Consul General, John Stepanchuk, introduced a videotaped statement from Van Cliburn (winner of the 1958 Tchaikovskiy Festival) that PAS Yekaterinburg specifically arranged for the occasion. Addressing the Izhevsk-Votkinsk audience, the legendary American musician spoke at length about Russian-American cultural ties that created bridges during the Cold War and the significance of the 200th anniversary of U.S-Russia diplomatic relations.
At the Izhevsk Philharmonic, PAS set up the "Closer than We Think" photo and memorabilia exhibit for the audience of the Tchaikovskiy Festival (about 600 people daily). The exhibit featured pictures and news clips of Van Cliburn’s 1958 concert in Moscow. It also contained memorable photographs of Khrushchev’s U.S. tour and U.S.-Russia summits beginning with the Kennedy years. After the Festival, the exhibit will be displayed at the gallery of the East European State University, to reach the local student audience and the general public.
Also during the Izhevsk visit, Consul General opened the Library of Congress photo exhibit of Sergey Prokudin-Gorskiy's color images of imperial Russia of 1907-1915 at the National Library of Udmurt Republic. The event was attended by the local academic and art professionals, government officials and USG programs alumni.
