Soul of Japan int'l fest to open at Moscow Conservatory Tue.

7/9 Tass 29

MOSCOW, September 7 (Itar-Tass) - The 12th international Soul of Japan
festival will acquaint audiences with the musical culture of the Land of
the Rising Sun. The festival opens in the Rachmaninoff Hall of the Moscow
Conservatory here on Tuesday.
Margarita Karatygina, director of the festival, has told Itar-Tass,
"The main aim of the festival is to bring the Russian public into contact
with the spiritual distinctiveness and treasures of the Japanese musical
culture".
The programme for the traditional festival is diverse as usual. It
includes classical and modern music for such interesting instruments as
koto, shakuhachi and shamisen. The best musicians -- representatives of
various countries -- will play works by Japanese composers.
According to tradition, the festival is accompanied with theatricals,
an exhibition of Japanese arts, and demonstration of the tea ceremony. The
Japanese music ensemble Wa-On, set up at the Moscow Conservatory, is a
regular participant in the festival.
The Soul of Japan festival generates lively interests among domestic
art lovers and has even succeeded in fashioning an audience of like-minded
people. Karatygina relates, "A Japanese music class has been functioning
at the Moscow Conservatory for nineteen years now. Leading Japanese
masters and Russian learners from them are among teachers. Not only
musicians but also financiers, architects, psychologists, and people of
other professions have been attending the class".
The festival is to come to a close on December 23 -- the Day of the
Birth of Japanese Emperor Akihito.
-0-pop