Fourth Pitsunda International Festival closes to a sold-out house

SUKHUM / AQW'A — The fourth Pitsunda International Music Festival ended on 1 August with a sold-out closing concert at the town's ancient cathedral, the sixth and final night of a week that organisers say drew some of the festival's biggest audiences to date.

The closing evening brought together music lovers from across Abkhazia and Russia's regions, as well as tourists holidaying on the coast. Organisers described a mood of unity from the outset, with listeners of different ages and nationalities united by a shared interest in the programme.

Over six days the festival staged 11 concerts of symphonic, choral and chamber music, including several world premieres. Its centrepiece was a performance by the International Symphony Orchestra of the Pitsunda Festival, with appearances by leading musicians from Abkhazia, Russia and elsewhere reinforcing the festival's standing as a meeting point for different performing traditions and generations.

Baras Kudzhba, the festival's artistic director, reflected on the week. He said:

'This year we managed to bring symphonic, choral and chamber music together in one programme. We made music with wonderful artists, singers from the Bolshoi Theatre, and members of the Capella and the Sveshnikov Choral Academy. The energy of the musicians and friends we worked with this week has been genuinely inspiring. The festival's main aim, to unite people through the power of art, was fulfilled in full.'

The closing concert brought three ensembles together on one stage: the International Symphony Orchestra of the Pitsunda Festival, conducted by Kudzhba; the State Choral Chapel of Abkhazia, directed by Nodar Chanba; and the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory, directed by Alexander Solovyov.

Its central work was Beethoven's Choral Fantasy for piano, chorus and orchestra. Kudzhba conducted, with the pianist Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev performing the solo part.