The participants of the Project
Elena Nikolayevna Tsarenko
Honoured Worker of Arts of the Russian Federation
Producer, the President of Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization Russian national ballet “Kostroma”
For each of us the Great Patriotic War is a tragic page from our family archive, not just the history of the whole country. There is no family that has not lost their dear and near in this cruel war. That is exactly why all of us together do not have the right to forget about that great fight and fail to say a decisive no to new threats.
To pay the last respects and the tribute to the memory of those who died and those who survived, the heroes of the home front, the people of the blockaded Leningrad, the defenders of the hero-cities and of all who hold this tragic page of our history dear, is a responsibility and great honour for us, the workers of the cultural front. We, the artists, like front brigades of artists at that time, often have to be the peace ambassadors, the representatives of the people’s diplomacy, and we are very proud of this mission!
The number of people who survived the great battle is decreasing each year. Due to poor health the majority of them cannot come to the capital to take part in the celebrations. So we really wanted that the celebration of Victory would come to their cities with our help. Our project os a large-scale historical and heroic canvass of those great events. It is not only a memorable gift for the veterans but also an address to the young people of the country, the heirs of the generation of the victors.
We will be happy if the hearts of veterans who remember the hard days at the front with tears in their eyes and the hearts of all the people in the audience will fill with the pride for their country and spring atmosphere of the Victory Day, I don’t only mean the victory that happened 70 years ago but also the victories of the present day on the war-like difficult way of the rebirth of the greatness of our Motherland.”
Yuri Valeryevich Tsarenko
Honoured Worker of Arts of the Russian Federation
Art Director of Russian national ballet “Kostroma”
Director and Stage Director of “Back Home with Victory!”
We dedicate the Project to all the nationalities of the country and the act of bravery of the people, who fought against fascism, and were united by just one hope, hope to win.
I happy that we can present a program for the celebrations of the 70 th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War that allows the veterans to remember their young years, carelessness of times of peace and how it feels to be the hero of great war battles and to relive the joy of long awaited victory.
“Back Home with Victory!” is an interesting creative experience and joint experiment when, for the first time ever, Russian national ballet “Kostroma” presented a program with Ludmila Chursina, a People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, acting as “ the mother of one hundred millions of sons”, with symphonic orchestras of the hero-cities and local volunteers. It is due to that fact that it becomes possible to create an integrated cultural space on stage through ballet art, drama, live music, great stage design and modern technologies. Such a large-scale historic canvass conveys the atmosphere of the unity of the nations facing a common threat. Every artist of the show “Back Home with Victory!” plays their part with love and inspiration. They add to each other, live naturally through the events of those times together with their characters. They worry, love and enjoy themselves. As for me, I view this Project as a creative and ideological victory because all the participants of the Project are young people who have a scrupulous, compassionate, responsible and respectful attitude to both their mission in the project and the future life of their country.
Boris Isaakovich Golodnitsky
Stage Designer and Producer
Honoured Worker of Culture of the Republic of Mari-El, a laureate of State Prize of the Republic of Mari-El, Art Director of Kostroma Municipal “Chamber Drama Theatre”, Director
What do war and memories of war mean for every person? I’m grateful that I can express my feelings and attitudes to war by working together with Russian national ballet “Kostroma” on “Back Home with Victory” show.
“Back Home with Victory!” is not just another concert. It conveys the main stages of life during the terrible war through smallest details, things, objects and symbols that, to my mind, define the memory of the people.
At the beginning of the performance I wanted to show the time of that period, the peaceful life, the costumes and to communicate to the audience the fashion of the 30-s, the people’s faces, their emotions, parks with dancing grounds, orchestras – the atmosphere of openness and easiness that gets broken by war in just a second.
The episodes of the beginning of the war are filled with fear and pain. The heated train car is the symbol of the war here. It was then that it started to be used for moving people. Against the background of the heated train car people said goodbye, parted and disappeared inside it closing the heavy door that also symbolizes the start of the war.
The stages of freeing the blockaded Leningrad are presented against the background of “broken windows” that are a well-know symbol of war that means broken lives of the Soviet people.
Fragile blossoming of spring in 1945 was like the start of new life and peace that is conveyed with the help of panoramic background “May part in blossom” where the same heated train car comes back and turns into the symbol of the end of the war and the victory of the hero freers.
Pavel Yakovlevich Gershtein
Director, Art Director and the Chief Conductor of Kostroma Governorate Symphonic Orchestra, laureate of Municipal Prize named after D. Likhachyov, representative of Vladimir Spivakov’s Fund in Kostroma, Art Director of Russian and Swiss Music Festival and International Festivals called “Symphonic Kostroma” and “Opera Kostroma”
Pavel Gershtein was an invited conductor for the orchestras of Köln, Seoul, Khabarovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kislovodsk, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, the Republic of Belorussia, Armenia, with the “Novaya Rossiya” Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Ministry of Defense and many others. He conducted for a whole range of Russian and world premiers for the compositions of Russian and foreign composers.
The victorious ending of the Great Patriotic War that united the hearts of millions of people 70 years ago unites our hearts today in their desire to express their gratitude to the heroes who freed the country and to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War to their Children.
“Back Home with Victory!” show is our first experience of working together with Russian national ballet “Kostroma”. It is an interesting creative experiment where the symphonic orchestra is one of the main characters of the show. The conductor and the musicians are required not only to play clearly and emotionally but also to take part in the drama composition of the show and to be involved in the events happening on the stage. We perform as a tandem with the ballet artists and turn every joint episode into a large-scale powerfully mesmerizing drama action thus filling the show with unique energy, mood and passion of the 40-s.
Ludmila Alekseevna Chursina
Theatre and film actor
People’s Artist of the RSFSR, People’s Artist of the USSR, a laureate of state prize of the RSFSR named after Vasilyevs brothers, Gran Prix of the 17 th International Festival in San Sebastian, the prize of KGB of the USSR, awarded with the order “For Merit to the Fatherland” of the 4 th rank, Order of Friendship (2005) and Order of Honour (2011)
Since 1984 she has been working for the Central Theatre of the Soviet Army, now known as the Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army. Ludmila Chursina has had more than 90 parts in the films, the first ones were Zoya in “When the trees were tall”, Nastya, a nurse, in “Windswept”, Olesya in “Virineya”, Tonechka in “Morning Trains”, Darya in “Short Story from the Don”, Inka the Estonian in “Two Tickets for the Day Show” and many others.
Throughout my life I’m trying to be socially active. That’s why I couldn’t say no to the invitation to take part in the heroic and historical tour of Russian national ballet “Kostroma” called “Back Home with Victory!”
The part offered to me, “mother of one hundred millions of sons”, is one of the most powerful in the show and close to every woman, to my mind. For me it is the fear, pain, tears of those mothers who saw me growing up, whose husbands and children fought in the Great Patriotic War. The war when I was destined to be born and be a child.
I’m so happy that I’m touring the Russian hero-cities and can personally congratulate our veterans and share my emotions and experiences with the young generations whose minds should be now absorbing a great feeling of love to their Fatherland.
Vasily Nikolayevich Pyanov
Honoured Artist of Russia
Since 1997 Vasily Pyanov has been a soloist of the National Academic Orchestra of the Folk Instruments of Russia named
after Osipov. He works with different kinds of artistic companies – ensembles of folk instruments, war orchestras
or orchestras of folk instruments of Russia. Since 2005 he has been working for Russian national ballet “Kostroma”.
The songs performed by Vasily Pyanov are distinguished by their special moving heartiness that leaves no one indifferent.
His stage charisma, conspicuous appearance and voice have won the hearts of audiences in France, Monaco, England,
Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, China, Cyprus, the USA, Canada and other countries.
It is the first time in my life that I have taken part in such a large-scale project dedicated to the celebrations of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The heroic and historical tour gives a wonderful opportunity to congratulate the veterans and the citizens of nine hero-cities all together personally and as a member of an amazing and highly professional team of colleagues and like-minded people of Russian national ballet “Kostroma”, who united their souls in their creative dedication.
It is a great honour and joy for me to pay a tribute to our great-grandfathers, grandfathers and fathers on these important days for all the Russian people. To give them moments when they can feel young, remember the past and sing along to me the songs of the war years.