The participants of the festival were 17 teams from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and other countries of the CIS and Europe. Their performances were assessed by a competent jury which included the permanent member of the KVN (The Club of the Happy and Inventive) jury, film director Yuli Gusman, Laima Vaikule, Pelageya, Oleg Znarok, Vladislav Tretiak, Valdis Pelsh, Igor Vernik, Valeri Syutkin. The winner of the festival was the Soyuz team from Tyumen who received the main award – The Big KiViN in Gold.
The culmination of the festival was the
gala party for its participants and friends arranged on behalf of Rietumu Bank. The gala party held in the open air at the popular national cuisine restaurant Lido on Jomas Street – the central street of Jurmala – was attended by about 500 guests: Russian show business stars, KVN participants of different periods, recognised political leaders and entrepreneurs.
The participants were greeted by the organiser and the head of The Singing KiViN Alexander Maslyakov. “I devoted a big part of my life to the KVN and I have to say that it is not the worst occupation in the world. For the majority of KVN players, the years spent in this game have subsequently become wonderful recollections about their interesting life and youth. I wish all to have more such pleasant recollections, related both to the KVN and other bright events. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to my colleagues and like-minded persons for the wonderful time we have been lucky enough to spend together,” said Alexander Maslyakov.
Among the guests of the gala party dedicated to the 20
th jubilee of The Singing KiViN, were Yuli Gusman, Pelageya, Valdis Pelsh, Igor Vernik, Sergey Svetlakov and other Russian show business stars, the legendary hockey-player Vladislav Tretiak, as well as political figures who were spending their vacation in Jurmala, prominent Russian and Latvian entrepreneurs, persons from the top millionaires list and media personalities from Latvia, Russia and other countries, for many of whom Jurmala recently became a permanent summer residence and their second home.
At the press conference held before The Singing KiViN, Alexander Maslyakov confessed his deep love for this Baltic resort city, “When we started thinking about holding our music festival and where the venue could be 20 years ago, thank God, one of the first ideas that came into our heads was Jurmala – a city which I sincerely love and which is ideally disposed towards creativity. Jurmala has its wonderful Dzintari Concert Hall, which is famous far beyond the borders of Latvia, as well as excellent nature, air, sea and silence which are important for every creative person.”
As the Member of the Rietumu Bank Council Alexander Gafin emphasised, “We are very pleased and proud of the fact that Latvia has friends such as Alexander Maslyakov and The Singing KiViN festival, which gathers together increasingly more fans with every coming year. With the support of Jurmala Municipality, we will try to do everything possible for such high quality and popular events to be held here for many years ahead.”
This year the 20
th jubilee festival of The Singing KiViN, the traditional venue of which is the Dzintari Concert Hall in Jurmala, was held on 18, 19 and 20 July. During all three days of the festival TV recording took place, and later the TV version of The Singing KiViN will be shown to the wide audience of Russian Channel One.
The Singing KiViN is the annual music festival of KVN (The Club of the Happy and Inventive) teams, which has been held in Jurmala for 20 years in succession under the direction of the festival founder, the legendary Alexander Maslyakov. The jury of the festival includes recognised actors, directors and musicians from Russia and Latvia. The venue of the festival is the most prestigious open-air concert platform in Latvia – the Dzintari Concert Hall. During the entire summer season, this concert hall is the venue for concerts of pop stars from different countries, as well as well-known international music festivals such as New Wave, Summertime (arranged by the internationally recognised opera singer Inese Galante), the international festival Ballet Stars in Jurmala, etc. Rietumu Bank is well-known both in Latvia and abroad due to the support of different projects in the field of art and cultural cooperation. Throughout many years the bank has been a partner of the Golden Mask festival in Latvia. During recent years the bank has sponsored guest tours of theatres and music groups from Russia in Riga, as well as those of the Latvian National Opera and the Latvian National Theatre in Moscow. The bank has supported the exhibition of Peter Carl Faberge works from Russian state collections in Riga, the exhibition of the modern photo artist Janis Krumins in Petersburg and other projects as well. Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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