Drumsfest
Russia

From 29 to 31 of March 2013 the annual competition “DRUMSFEST” will be held where, as it happens every year, the participants in not only the nominations for the traditional (classical) percussion instruments but also a drum kit of different modern musical styles will compete.

In March 2012 the III Open competition “DRUMSFEST” ended. The fact that this competition was not the only one in 2010 and later was supported and carried out twice can prove that this is not a one-day-competition. The number and the entry list of the participants have showed it to the full!

In total, according to all the nominations, including “Ensembles of percussion instruments”, more than 160 competitors participated in the festival. The number of ensembles also increased, which was appreciated by the public interest in this nomination. For the first time the joint project “Time to live” (“Vremya zhit”) of Suvorov Military Musical Academy and the students of Children’s School of Art of Vidnoe city was carried out. There the audience heard the fragments of “Karmen-suite” of Rodion Schedrin. Twenty young musicians and students astonished the jury members and gained the people’s choice award. The performances of the other ensembles from Moscow and the Moscow region were also very interesting and fiery.

There were also the representatives from the other regions of Russia at the competition: Surgut, Nizhniy Novgorod, Saratov, Yekaterinburg, Engels, Syzran, Tula, Rostov-na-Donu, Asbest and Moscow. Also this year the participant from Estonia has taken part, so that made this competition an practically International one. Most of the competitors have come here for the second and the third times, which proves the importance of this festival. As the jury noticed, the participants who had come to the III competition “DRUMSFEST”, showed an extremely high level of training and the teachers – their professionalism and teaching mastery skill.

As for the previous years, this competition had the greatest and the most competent jury in orchestral drums nominations: L.I. Krasilnikova, G.V.Butov, K.V.Semyonov, I.M. Tsitrin, A.V.Suvorov, and also the conductors of the Central frontier troop of Federal Security Service of Russia А.А. Kapralov and А.N. Vashkin. The judges of the nomination “Solo on a drum kit” were famous rock-musicians Sergey Efimov (ex-band «Kruiz», band «Hippi Haos»), Aleksandr Yerokhin (band «Lyube»), Aleksandr Anikin (drummer of the band «Karnaval»). The president of the jury in this nomination, by tradition, was teacher of Moscow State University of Culture and Moscow State Musical College of Pop and Jazz Anatoliy Makurov, popular for the readers of the magazine «MUSICBOX» with his articles on researches and teaching the drum kit arrangement.

It must be noticed that the last competition was held in a real temple of arts, which was built by the Administration of Lenin Municipal area. The building of the Children’s School of Art has already been acknowledged as the best and the most modern musical institution in Russia. In huge and spacious halls of the school there was the trade exhibition of percussion instruments by the company «Muzikalniy Arsenal» during the competition.

At gala-concert of the last festival as a special guest the Children’s pop-jazz orchestra of Solnechnogorsk city “Aprel’Band” under V.R. Kotovich performed.

In 2013 the IV festival-competition will be carried out. It will be an outstanding event as it’s becoming a pleasant tradition for young drums performers. To run a few steps forward, we can say that the participation of far abroad competitors is being planned, and this fact will essentially increase the competition status. In the Program of the competition there will be some changes, connected with the organization. Now the competition in the orchestral instruments nomination will be held in 2 rounds. As usual, there will be the Grand Prix from the sponsors of the festival – a drum kit “MAPEX” and a xylophone “FORTE”.

To participate in the IV Moscow Open Regional festival-competition “DRUMSFEST” you should learn more about the Program, conditions of the competition and apply for the participation. More information you can find in the corresponding sections of our website.