About 10,000 people attended the concerts of the "Music of the Balconies" festival in 2025.

      10 September 2025 15:30

       [144]

       Culture and Leisure

      This past weekend marked the end of the third season of the "Music of Balconies" festival. The final concert took place in the manor house of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum-Reserve "Boldino". This was reported by the Ministry of Culture of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

      "We closed the season of the 'Music of Balconies' festival with a concert in Bolshoye Boldino. It was here that Alexander Pushkin finished writing Eugene Onegin. The novel became the basis for a composition performed by soloists of the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic from the balcony of the manor house. Over two months of the festival — 17 concerts, more than 80 artists, around 10,000 spectators. Fourteen historic buildings became venues for performances, and not only in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, but also in the Leningrad Region and Saint Petersburg!" noted Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin.

      Among the venues used for festival performances this year were cultural heritage monuments such as the Rukavishnikov Estate, the Sirotkin House, the "Nikitin" hotel on the Strelka, the merchant Obryadchikov's house, which houses the L.K. Sivukhin Nizhny Novgorod Choral College. In addition, this year concert performances were organized for the first time in six municipalities. They took place not only in Bolshoye Boldino, but also on the balconies of merchant Alipov's house in Pavlovo, the "Teplokhod" House of Culture in the town of Bor and the "Severny" Palace of Culture in Gorodets, as well as on the balcony of the V.P. Chkalov House of Culture in Chkalovsk. The concert on the balcony of surveyor Dronov's house in Arzamas was a great success.

      "'The Arzamas "Music of Balconies" will, I am sure, be remembered by its listeners. When arias and romances are performed from the balcony of a two-century-old house, you want to learn more about the house itself, its inhabitants, the town. Especially since the first owner of the building, surveyor Petr Dronov, left us a rich legacy in the form of the most complete representation of Arzamas in the first half of the 19th century, its layout and dimensions. In this sense the festival gives the joy of belonging to art and history. We will look forward to new performers and melodies in the next season of the festival. I am also very grateful to the owners for including the house in the cultural life of our native town," said the head of Arzamas, Alexander Shchelokov.

      This year the festival reached the federal level for the first time — in August five concerts were held at venues in Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The "Music of Balconies" was supported by the All-Russian Pushkin Museum, the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve and the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Reserve. Concerts took place on the balconies of the G.R. Derzhavin Museum-Estate on the Fontanka, the A.S. Pushkin Memorial Apartment Museum on the Moika, 12, on the balcony of the Catherine Palace in the Tsarskoye Selo Park, and in the Oranienbaum Park of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve.

      "Talented musicians performed on the balcony of the Katalnaya Gorka pavilion — laureates of international and all-Russian competitions, soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre Academy of Young Opera Singers and the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The concerts demonstrated how powerfully live music can transform a space, filling it with a special charm and creating a unique atmosphere for park guests," said Roman Kovrikov, General Director of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve.

      In addition, the festival concerts featured soloists from the M. Rostropovich Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Philharmonic, the Moscow Musical Theatre "Helikon-Opera", the V.T. Stepanov Chamber Musical Theatre, the folk song ensemble "Lyubava", members of the chamber orchestra "Soloists of Nizhny Novgorod" and the V.A. Kuznetsov Nizhny Novgorod Russian Folk Orchestra, the "Nizhny Novgorod" chamber choir, graduates of the M.I. Glinka Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory, the jazz collective "Nizhny Novgorod Dixieland", performers of Russian songs and romances Maya Balashova and Darya Sikalskaya, and Belarusian and Russian singer Maxim Pavlov.

      "This year, within the framework of our festival, operatic arias and old romances, Russian Cossack songs, original concert programs, and popular music of the Soviet period were heard — in one case performed by a choir, in another by a jazz band. We selected each program based on the history and current purpose of the buildings that became performance venues. Thanks to this approach, we managed not only to hold a series of atmospheric concerts, but also to remind listeners of the cultural codes that link the present and different periods of our history," said Valery Kuznetsov, director of the L.K. Sivukhin Nizhny Novgorod Choral College and head of the "Music of Balconies" project.

      Photo reports and videos from this season's concerts can be found in the festival's official "Music of Balconies" group on VKontakte.

      Recall that the festival in the format of performances on the balconies of Nizhny Novgorod cultural institutions has existed since 2023. Over the previous two seasons, about 11,000 spectators attended the concerts.

      NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" has a Telegram channel. Subscribe to stay informed about major events, exclusive materials and timely information. Copyright © 1999–2025 NIA "Nizhny Novgorod". When republishing, a hyperlink to NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" is required. This resource may contain 18+ materials.