Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre begins guest tour in France.

PARIS, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - The Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and
Ballet Theatre began its guest performances in France on Wednesday, July
7, for the first time over the past 50 years. The theatre is visiting
France as part of the Year of Russian culture in France.
Performances of the Novosibirsk opera and ballet troupes will also
become a highlight of the sixth Summer Dance Festival, which is
traditionally being hosted by the Chatelet musical theatre in Paris.
Sergei Diagilev, an art critic, patron and ballet impresario, started his
famous "Russian Seasons" at the Chatelet theatre a hundred years ago.
The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre headed by People's Artist of
Russia Igor Zelensky has brought a rich repertoire: the Bayaderka ballet
by Minkus, a new 2010 production of 'The Swan Lake' by Tchaikovsky, a
concert of one-act ballets by George Balanchine to the music of Stravinsky
and the "Serenade" to the music of "The Serenade for String Orchestra" by
Tchaikovsky.
The Russian ballet school is widely represented at Chatelet this year.
The Mikhail Baryshnikov Ballet performed in Paris in mid-June. The
Novosibirsk Theatre will stay in the French capital until July 24.

.Zhiguli era ends in Russian market of secondary cars.

MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - After 30 years of rule, a Zhiguli era
seems to be over in the Russian market of secondary cars. "A new popular
car model, Ford Focus, has taken leadership in sales of secondary cars
younger than three years old," experts of the Smartus.ru vertical search
engine told Itar-Tass. They've processed 2.6 million car sale
advertisements in Russian Internet.
The result was deploring for Avtovaz: the Zhiguli brands continue
topping the first three lines in the ratings of cars older than three
years old. In a group of cars less than three years old a Samara model
ranks second, a classical Zhiguli model is fourth and the latest tenth
model is only ninth. "Ford Focus is ahead with an impressive lead in a
category of cars younger than three years old, the Samara car is second
and Mitsubishi Lancer is third," car market analysts went on to say.
It is noteworthy that Moscow and regions have various preferences
to popular foreign car models younger than three years old. In Moscow, the
most popular models in this category include 'Ford Focus', 'Chevrolet
Lacetti' and 'Mitsubishi Lancer' while in regions these are 'Ford Focus',
'Mitsubishi Lancer' and 'Toyota Corolla'.
'Ford Focus' is the most popular second-hand car in categories of
3-5 and 5-7 years old. Volkswagen Passat is the leader among the oldest
foreign brands (7-10 years old), market analysts say.

. Parents of drowned children are on their way to Yeisk.

KRASNODAR, Southern Russia, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - The parents of
children who drowned while bathing in the Azov Sea on July 7 are on their
way to Yeisk.
A Kuban Airlines plane with the parents and psychologists onboard will
take off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport at 8 o'clock in the morning on
Thursday. It will land in Krasnodar, southern Russia, two hours later. The
parents will head for Yeisk straight from the airport. The same flight
will take the parents to Moscow after the identification and other funeral
formalities are over.
On Wednesday morning, sixty-two children aged 10-16 from the Azov
summer recreation camp and 13 teachers, including a deputy school
principal, went on an excursion to the town of Yeisk. In Yeisk, the
teachers hired a boat and sailed to an island located ten kilometers away
from the Yeisk sand bar. On the island, the teachers allowed the children
to swim in the Azov Sea in a place, which was not marked for bathing. A
strong underwater current began drifting the kids into the open sea. One
teacher jumped to rescue them. He and six more children died. Two boys
were saved. They are now in intensive care, their condition is normal.
The children and their teachers had come to the Azov summer camp from
Moscow and the Moscow region.

. American army band to participate in music festival in Sakhalin.

VLADIVOSTOK, July 8 (Itar-Tass) - The brass band of the U.S. Pacific
Fleet will participate in a festival of military orchestras in Sakhalin on
September 9-13 when the Island is going to mark the 65th anniversary of
the end of WWII.
The Orchestra of the Russian Defence Ministry will represent Russia,
the administration of the Sakhalin region said.
The brass band of the U.S. Pacific Fleet consists of musicians from
the 25th infantry division stationed in the Hawaii Islands. It was founded
on October 12, 1943 and got the name of Tropic Lightning. This orchestra
has the largest number of awards among the military orchestras in the U.S.
army. It has performed in North Korea, Australia, Thailand, Naples,
Bangladesh and the Maldives. The orchestra gives about a thousand concerts
a year.

-0-fil/