On Saturday Rietumu Bank will hold a ceremonial reception in honour of the jubilee of the famous festival. The open-air reception arranged at the popular national restaurant Lido on Jomas Street (the central street of Jurmala) will be attended by more than 300 guests, among them being Alexander Maslyakov, members of the jury, KVN (The Club of the Happy and Inventive) participants of different periods, honorary guests of the festival, recognised political leaders and entrepreneurs.
On Wednesday a press conference dedicated to The Singing KiViN took place at Jurmala City Hall with the participation of the Mayor Gatis Truksnis, the founder and the head of the festival Alexander Maslyakov and the Member of the Rietumu Bank Council Alexander Gafin.
The Mayor of Jurmala, who opened the press conference, emphasised the big role of culture in the popularisation and development of the resort city. “Every year we have increasingly more musicians, artists and actors arriving to Jurmala from different countries. We are very pleased about this, as art is an international and panhuman value, which helps people and countries find out more about each other and have better understanding. And, certainly, as the Mayor and also a resident of Jurmala, I am glad that such a saturated cultural programme attracts a lot of guests and tourists to our city,” noted Gatis Truksnis.
Mr Truksnis wished success to KVN and The Singing KiViN festival, which is one of the most remarkable events of the concert life of Jurmala during the summer season.
Alexander Maslyakov, who spoke after the Mayor of Jurmala, confessed his deep love for the city which he has held dearly in his heart for over 40 years. “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 for humour, in my opinion good humour is understood by all people at all times. Teams from around the world take part in our festival and I am convinced that this genre brings nations and countries together,” noted the legendary Maslyakov.
In conclusion, Alexander Maslyakov thanked the consular service of Latvia for its very significant assistance and support in visa processing and the organisation of the arrival of numerous participants of the festival. He expressed special gratitude to Jurmala City Council, which always extends hospitality to its guests.
Alexander Gafin addressed the conference participants with a humorous greeting in KVN style about the benefit of the festival for Jurmala and the Latvian economy which was accepted with laughter and applause. Then Mr Gafin continued talking, now in a serious manner, about the advantages which Jurmala and Latvia as a whole receive due to cultural events of such a scale and level, “Festivals, contests, concerts – all of these contribute to the development of tourism and business as a whole, therefore all efforts must be applied to develop these ties which are beneficial for all parties. Every person who arrives to this wonderful city and spends at least a day here, becomes a friend of Jurmala and Latvia.”
This year the 20
th jubilee festival of The Singing KiViN will be held at the Dzintari Concert Hall on 18, 19 and 20 July. During all three days of the festival TV recording will take place and later the TV version of The Singing KiViN will be shown to a wide audience of the Russian Channel One.
Addressing the guests at the completion of the press conference, Mr 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.”
References 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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