A jazz concert took place in Yul Brynner Square. The Tretyakov Gallery gave this gift to the citizens and guests of Vladivostok in honor of the first anniversary of the public space on Aleutskaya Street. The orchestra of the Ussuri Suvorov Military School performed popular compositions such as “Flight over Rio”, “Vladivostok 2000”, “East Side Drive” and many others, despite the lack of electricity throughout the city.
Despite the blackout in Primorsky Krai on Friday, August 16, the concert in Yul Brynner Square began on time – at 19:00. A microphone, speakers, and illumination were connected to the generator, which, combined with the lack of light throughout the city, created a special atmosphere. Dozens of people gathered to enjoy the jazz compositions – all the seats were occupied, the guests stood around the musicians on the sidewalk and even on the lawns, danced and sang along, temporarily forgetting about the collapse of the power grid. Residents of neighboring houses enjoyed jazz, sitting on their balconies.
“The idea to attend the concert was partly spontaneous. I saw the announcement, but I wasn’t sure I’d go. When the power went out in the whole city, my friend and I were walking around the center and decided that we definitely had to go. There were unexpectedly many people at the concert. There was such a wonderful feeling of unity. As if there was a catastrophe all around, and partly it was, after all, and here was such a corner of sincerity and warmth. The songs were also well chosen, all the melodies were familiar. We sang along and danced. And when a medley of Soviet cartoons started playing, nostalgia hit us. I think that such concerts should be held more often, because music should be accessible. Well, and in our time there is a great lack of something kind and bright,” shared a concertgoer. Natalia.
The repertoire is a joint effort of the Tretyakov Gallery team, the organizers and the orchestra. The program included a lot of domestic music in jazz arrangement, including from films – those melodies and songs that lift the spirits. The choice of performers was also approached seriously.
“This group has worked in Vladivostok many times, performed at the International Jazz Festival, and has proven itself well. The city residents are familiar with it and greet it very warmly. First of all, we chose professional and experienced musicians. And we were right! Although it was impossible to predict the power outage, the group and the managers-organizers even took care of a generator just in case. Thanks to their professionalism, preparation and sound quality, the concert turned out to be a point of attraction for everyone who was in the city center at that moment,” shared Director of the Tretyakov Gallery branch in Vladivostok Gleb Chechevin.
The Vladivostok branch of the Tretyakov Gallery decided to celebrate the year of operation of the public space and the opening of the exhibition “Home Port – Far East” with the support of FESCO with a concert. The Yul Brynner Square, which is located next to the public space and has become a permanent venue for Tretyakov Gallery activities, was chosen as the venue for this.
“This park has an atmosphere conducive to creative initiatives. The Brynner family loved art and music, including organizing a home theater. Not to mention Yul Brynner’s talent, which is always reminded by the monument to the actor. A year ago, we did not even doubt where exactly to organize open-air film screenings as part of the exhibition “Energy of Color. Archetypes of the Avant-garde.” In Brynner Park, we included silent film classics with live musical accompaniment, which was created by Egor Bespalov. It is also in this park that our methodologist Sofia holds master classes on urban sketching: the group creates sketches of architecture here,” noted Head of the Department of Scientific and Exhibition Activities of the Tretyakov Gallery branch in Vladivostok Olga Zolotova.
It should be noted that the public space of the Tretyakov Gallery opened in Vladivostok in July 2023. While a large cultural complex and future exhibition halls of the Tretyakov Gallery are being built on the Eagle’s Nest hill, a representative office of the museum is operating on Aleutskaya. Its goal is to introduce Far Easterners to art in various ways: through lectures, master classes, a selection of books in the library, and interactive exhibitions.
Interactive exhibitions are a special format of work. The public space is not intended for storing paintings, so the paintings are told about using multimedia and reproductions. Each such exhibition is a large project, which contains many interesting facts and curious information. Thus, for the exhibition “Home Port – Far East” about 60 works from 12 museums were collected. Among them are images of watercolors by Fyodor Bagants, an artist who worked in research expeditions and was one of the first to create landscapes of the Far East.
