12th International Organ Festival opened in Sochi

The Festival programme contains names of performers from 11 countries. For the first time, organ music ensembles will be presented.

Classic and modern music will be performed for Sochi residents and guests of the resort city. The organ will appear before the audience as a solo and an accompanying instrument.

The festival was opened the two Russian musicians – a saxophonist Pavel Novikov-Rastopnin and an organist Igor Goldenberg brought their programme to Sochi, composed of arrangements of well-known pieces by Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Tariverdiev for saxophone and organ.

An unusual combination of instruments – a saxophone and an organ – was a novelty for some listeners. "Frankly speaking, at first I did not want to buy a ticket to this concert – I was embarrassed with the duet of a saxophone and an organ," said one of the listeners. "But, nevertheless, I decided to go, and now I don't regret."

"The festival is just the place for experiments. This is an occasion to argue, to agree or disagree," said Valeria Anfinogenova, the creative director of the Festival of Organ Music.

The first of the ten planned concerts was performed by Russian musicians; the rest of them will be given by foreign performers.