PHOTOfact: Slavianski Bazaar officially opens in Vitebsk

Creativity inspires people all over the world. Many of these people came to Vitebsk to shine their light in unique ways. The festival embraced all genres, formats, styles, even languages. This is why artists from different countries love this amazing festival. This year Vitebsk has just marked its 1,050th anniversary. The city has lived a long life and has seen a lot, but it is still young deep inside.

This year the city welcomed representatives of 42 countries. This impressive figure was announced earlier on 11 July at a press conference dedicated to the official opening of the art forum.

More than 6,000 people came to the Summer Amphitheater, the main venue of the festival, to see the grand opening ceremony that was a sold-out event.

The presenters of the opening ceremony were Yelena Spiridovich, Taisiya Povaliy, Vladimir Berezin, Lera Kudryavtseva, Aleksandr Serebrennikov and Polina Shuba. They invited the audience to an exciting journey on the Slavic Express. The journey went through several eras and was meant to recall the past, comprehend the present and look a little into the future.

The audience welcomed First Lady of Zimbabwe Auxillia Mnangagwa, First Lady of Nigeria Oluremi Tinubu and First Lady of the Kyrgyz Republic Aigul Japarova who were among the distinguished guests, along with representatives of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Belarus became a full member in early July. The SCO culture ministers are set to hold a meeting on 12 July.

The Vitebsk land attracts and nurtures talents, the presenters noted when introducing the artists. Those included Oleg Gazmanov, Taisiya Povaliy, Ruslan Alekhno, Alyona Lanskaya and Aleksandr Yelovskikh, Ani Lorak, Aleksandr Buinov.

The artists who took to the stage of the Summer Amphitheater performed in different languages, solo or accompanied by a choir, and in duets. 

Some segments of the program were dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders. Some segments highlighted the 25th anniversary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Treaty.

The legendary hit “I can Boogie” was performed by the Baccara group. Oleg Gazmanov suggested “Drawing a dream”, and Anatoly Yarmolenko and the Syabry ensemble invited “to come to Belarus”.

People's Artist of Russia Grigory Leps  received a special prize of the Belarusian president “Through art towards peace and mutual understanding”. The head of state presented the high award personally at the beginning of the concert. A star named after Grigory Leps was unveiled before the gala concert of the opening ceremony earlier. The artist sincerely thanked the Belarusian people and the president for such a high assessment of his work.

The stars that lit up the gala concert later included Aleksandr Solodukha, Aleksandr Buinov, the group Factory, Yulia Mikhalchik, Khabib, Nikita Belko, Anastasia Kravchenko, Lyusya Chebotina, Dima Bilan and many others.

The 33rd edition of the international arts festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk is running on 9-15 July.