Editor's Choice
The Game
 The 15th of February is International Day of the Fight Against Children’s Cancer. A charity project organized by Dina Korzum and Chulpan Khamatova is taking place inside the luxury department store GUM. Korzun and Khamatova have launched a charity foundation called “Give a life as a present,” the goal of which is to assist children who are facing cancer. This time they are supporting a photo exhibition by Alina Vlasova. They invited the children and actors to participate in the project, hence “The Game.” It features young victims of cancer who do not give up, and though facing such a serious diagnosis, continue to hope for the best and enjoy playing games. During the two weeks the
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February 15 – March 1
GUM
Open: 10:00-22:00 | exhibition is on, there will be cash donation boxes and all the visitors to the exhibition will have a chance to contribute. All the money that is collected will be spent on treatments for the children. Korzum and Khamatova, through their Foundation along with volunteers, support four clinics for children in Moscow. They raise funds and organize charity campaigns.
Jazz+Electro+Lounge? – Gabin!
 The original Gabin, a French actor known for his portrayals of jaded, faded anti-heroes in 1930’s films, might have chuckled ironically if he had been told that a half-century after his heyday two Italian musicians would name a lounge-music project after him. But if he had listened to the music, he would have understood. It’s full of languid grace and melancholy, and is undeniably stylish – exactly what you’d expect to hear in a Parisian cafe or supper club. Just to add to the effect, many of the song titles and lyrics are in French. Fillippo Cary and Max Bottini, the men behind this curious project, came from vastly different musical backgrounds. Cary is a DJ, and spent much of the 90s presiding over chill-rooms in Rome’s major venues. Bottini, a jazz
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February 16
B1 Maximum
23:00 | bassist, has spent the past decade performing with the likes of Scofield and Coghan. Together, they have created a jazz-lounge hybrid; difficult to categorize, but easy on the ear. Their eponymous debut has been variously described as down-tempo, mellow house, and Latin jazz. Various guest artists contribute to the melange. Their concerts do not normally last more than 90 minutes, but that is time enough to make you lose your mind, in a positive sense of course!
Polo a la Russe
 The Mercury Snow Polo Cup is taking place at the Otrada Equestrian Center. Though it is more usual to watch polo in the summer, the winter version is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and Latin America. The first competition in winter polo took place in St. Moritz in 1985. The rules of the winter game coincide with the summer version except for the size of the field and the color of the ball. The winter ball is brighter and bigger and the field is the same size as for footsal (mini football). In Russia as in Switzerland the climate makes it possible to hold competitions in both summer and winter. The show is going to be spectacular indeed.
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February 16 – February 17
Otrada Equestrian Center
12:30 | Four teams, 3 players each, are to compete during 5 periods or chukkas. Each team is led by a captain from Great Britain or Argentina, the nations where polo is most popular. The team members’ names are still to be released. The Moscow Cup is on the calendar, along with Aspen (U.S.), Kitzbul (Austria), Mezhev (France), St. Moritz (Switzerland) and Cortina (Italy).
Mariinsky Premiere in Moscow
 Golden Mask takes place in Moscow every spring. The festival was launched in 1994 to praise best theater productions in all kinds of theater art: from drama to puppet theater. In February, Mariinsky’s premiere ballet productions are a preface to the festival. Any performance by Valery Gergiev and his theater is a special event for the muscovite audience. This is a unique chance to see most prominent and exciting works from Saint Petersburg. So, this time this is an opera production of “Electra” and one-act ballets, “Serenade”, “Ring” and “Awakening of Flora”. The first one is an early Strauss composition, staged by Jonathan Kent, whereas it was the famous Paul Brown who invented the magnificent scenerios. Larisa Gogolevskaya performs the lead part, impressing the audience with her incredible dramatic force. “Serenade” is a classical George Balanchine production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s
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February 5, 25, 26
Bolshoi Theater (New Stage)
19:00 | composition. “Awakening of Flora” was reconstructed by Sergey Vikharev from the notes of the stage director, N. Sergeev, which are kept in Harvard. Pavel Bubelnikov, the conductor, managed to reconstruct the composer’s Riccardo Drigo’s scores and Mikhail Shishlyannikov recreated the costumes from sketches in theater funds and libraries. The result is simply stunning! All the beauty of the drowned civilization in one theater act…
Pushkin Museum New Exposition
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”Madonna with Saints” by G. B. Tiepolo | For a museum like Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts a new exposition is a notable event. We can trace back the history of the museum through those dates when it changed and, every time, was enriched. It was opened in 1912 at Ivan Tsvetaev’s initiative as an educational center for Moscow University, and mainly displayed ancient architecture and sculpture plaster-casts. In 1924, there appeared a hall for pictures of Old Masters. After the World War II the exposition was vastly enriched by works of Impressionists and Expressionists which had been in store for many years. It had not been safe to make a suggestion like that in those years. Yet thanks to that idea, the Museum first of all became what it is now – a universal museum of Western Art, and even more, it became
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Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
14, Volkhonka Street
Open: 10:00-18:00 | one of the richest and most famous collections in the world. Since 2005 the Arts of the 19th and 20th centuries have been located in the adjacent, beautiful, newly-restored building, whereas the main building of the Museum is dedicated to the Arts of the Ancient World and Arts of the 15–18th centuries. The Italian, French, Flemish, Spanish Art halls have been redecorated, making it possible to enlarge the exposition.
Cello with Passion
 Denis Shapovalov, the famous Russian cellist, is giving a concert in the Grand Hall of the Conservatory. Having won the Tchaikovsky Competition Award in 1998, Denis has made a brilliant career and now is in collaboration with best ensembles of the world: the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orcestra, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, Der Bayerische Rundfunk Orhester, the Yomiuri Symphonic Orchestra and many others. Like his guru Mstislav Rostropovich, Denis is involved in charity. In April 2007 he was the first classical musician to give a concert at the North Pole. The program he presents in Moscow now is entitled “Passion” and takes place just before St. Valentine’s Day. It will include classical compositions: Concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra by L. Van Beethoven, symphony-concerto for violin, cello, oboe and flute with orchestra by J. Haydn, duet for violin and cello with orchestra “Muse and Poet” by K. Saint-Saens.
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Grand Conservatory Hall
February 11
19:00 | Denis invited the famous oboist Alexey Utkin, eminent violinists Nikolay Sachenko and Nikita Borisoglebsky, like Denis, they are laureates of the Tchaikovsky Musical Competition Award. Alexander Vershinin, the talented pianist, is also going to accompany Denis. And Alexander Anisimov is going to conduct the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.
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