Russian Embassy gears up for Russian Seasons 2021 in Korea

The Russian Embassy in South Korea held an opening ceremony for the Russian Seasons at Seoul Arts Center on Saturday.

Russian seasons is a project run by Russia’s Ministry of Culture aimed at introducing Russian culture worldwide and presenting the “Firebird” to the hosting country. The Firebird is the symbol of the Russian Seasons inspired by the mythical creature from Russian folk tales.

The project in Korea started with a performance by the Soloists of Moscow, a chamber ensemble under the baton of Yuri Bashmet at Seoul Arts Center.

Performances by South Korean pianist and organist Cho Jae-hyuk are to be held until Oct. 8 in five cities.

Russia launched “Stay Home with Russian Seasons” online service to provide access to cultural contents from Russia for Russian culture fans from Russia and abroad keeping in view the restrictive measures of COVID-19.

Russian Vice Minister of Culture Vladimir Osintev attended the press conference to mark the opening of the Russian Seasons tour and thanked the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for supporting the large performing group during COVID-19.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Kulik welcomed the artists from Russia and emphasized the importance of culture and people-to-people ties to bilateral relations.

“People of Russia and Korea are loving each other’s culture and want to know more about each other’s culture,” he said.

“Today is a historic day for all of us because soloists from Russia is in Korea, Russian Seasons is wonderful project to offer diversity and essence of Russian culture,” Kulik added.

By Sanjay Kumar (sanjaykumar@heraldcorp.com)