The IV Moscow Winter Music Festival "Zaryadye"

The IV Moscow Winter Music Festival "Zaryadye" will be held in Moscow from December 2nd to December 31st, 2025.

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The IV Moscow Winter Music Festival "Zaryadye" will take place from December 2nd to 31st, 2025, and will feature approximately 50 events. Expect big names, new programs, and a wide selection of events. The concert repertoire is truly extensive: from opera arias to chamber music, jazz sets, and family concerts.

You'll hear both well-loved programs and new releases. This year's festival program includes, among others, Denis Matsuev, Khibla Gerzmava, and Valery Gergiev, as well as jazz groups and projects by young artists.

Multi-genre events are also on the horizon: Evgeny Knyazev will read Nikolai Leskov's story "The Sealed Angel" to the sounds of Rodion Shchedrin's liturgy, and Evgeny Mironov will perform William Shakespeare's Hamlet accompanied with music by Dmitry Shostakovich. There will also be Christmas concerts (by the Danilov Monastery Choir, musicAeterna, the Arielle vocal ensemble, and others).

Date: The festival will run from December 2nd to 31st, 2025.

Venue: All concerts will take place at the Zaryadye Concert Hall, located in Zaryadye Park in central Moscow.

About Zaryadye

Zaryadye is a park for recreation, entertainment, and cultural education. The project was created by an international team of engineers, architects, and landscape designers.

In 2018, Time magazine included Zaryadye in its list of the world's 100 best places; it was the only site in Russia to make the list. Zaryadye also won the 2018 ArchDaily Prize in the Public Architecture category and received InAVation Awards and POPAI AWARDS.

The Zaryadye Concert Hall opened in September 2018. Every year, it hosts over 500 different events: plays, classical, jazz, and folk music concerts, performances, and lectures. The space includes the Great Hall (approximately 1,550–1,600 seats) and the Small Hall (approximately 400 seats).

Festival Program (main concerts)

• December 2nd 19:00 - the opening.

Performers: International competition laureates: Venera Gimadieva (soprano), Yulia Matochkina (mezzo-soprano), Alexey Tatarintsev (tenor), and Elchin Azizov (baritone).

Program: arias and ensemble pieces from Russian and foreign operas (Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and others)

• December 6th, 19:00- 21:00 - Kristina Mkhitaryan Concert

Performers: Kristina Mkhitaryan (soprano), Kirill Sikora (tenor in duet scenes), Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.

Program: arias from operas by foreign and Russian composers (Donizetti, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov).

• December 16th, 19:00 - P. I. Tchaikovsky. Opera "The Queen of Spades"

Performers: Elena Stikhina, soprano; Ivan Gyngazov, tenor; Moscow State Symphony Orchestra; the Popov Children's Choir; the Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir; and others.

The concert will be preceded by a lecture by musicologist Ada Ainbinder.

• December 10th, 19:00 - "The Wheel of Love and Fortune: French Music of the 14th Century"

Performers: The Readers Ensemble.

Program: poetry by Guillaume de Machaut, songs from "The Game of Robin and Marion," and learned motets from the Montpellier Codex.

• December 31st, 17:00 – the festival closure.

Performers: Maria Bayankina, soprano; Sergei Semishkur, tenor; Moscow State Symphony Orchestra; A.V. Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir.

Program: Johann Strauss Jr.'s operetta "Die Fledermaus." Based on the farce "Imprisonment" by J.R. Benedix and the vaudeville "New Year's Eve" by A. Meilhac and L. Halévy. Libretto by K. Haffner and R. Genée.

The full festival program can be found on the website: https://zaryadyehall.ru/events/festivals/

Why should you visit the festival?

A wide variety of genres. Events include:

- symphonic music (an evening of symphonic music dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel's birth);

- Christmas programs;

- opera;

- performances for children (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Snow Maiden");

- special interactive activities;

- jazz concerts;

- film music (Marimba Plus will perform soundtracks from Hollywood films, and the Russian State Cinema Symphony Orchestra will play works from Soviet and Russian cinema).

So, everyone will definitely find a concert to suit their taste!

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Maria Li