The art festival “Cultural Autumn in the Museum” was held within three days. Children and their parents became its first guests. Actors of the Regional Puppet Theatre prepared entertaining interactive programs for them. The smallest participants of the event were only 12 months old. Older children saw the performance-concert “Short Stories” in the Guard-rooms. Both kids and adults got a lot of positive emotions and were in good spirits the whole day. They could also have their pictures taken with the characters of the plays.
Two concerts of Elena Vyazigina (accompanist Gennady Golubev) took place within the framework of the festival. She sang not only Russian folk songs, but also romances, songs composed to the verse of different poets and even humorous rhymes of Kirillov.
The program of the first day of the festival included the meeting with the distinguished guest - Anatoly Zabolotsky, cameraman and producer of the film “The Red Snowball Tree”. He told about his work with film director Vasily Shukshin, friendship with famous Soviet writers Viktor Astafiev, Vasily Belov, Valentin Rasputin; answered questions of the people who gathered in the conference hall. Besides, two short films were presented to them. The first one was about Anatoly Zabolotsky himself who was also a photo artist and a writer. The second story told about village resident Evfimia Bystrova, who played the part of Yegor Prokudin’s mother in “The Red Snowball Tree”. It also included some work material of the shooting of this film.
The action “Night of Arts” was held all over Russia on Sunday, November 3. Soloists of the Governor Orchestra of Folk Instruments opened it in Kirillov. They presented new programs in which spectators could also take part. “Fortress with Ghosts” attracted a capacity crowd. Children were delighted to act as residents of the mysterious fortress. Then the artists performed music of such countries as Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Peru, the USA, Brazil and, of course, Russia. Live music, virtuoso play of the musicians and even a dance minute – the soloists of the orchestra presented all this to the spectators.
The festival and the “Night of Arts” culminated in the opening of the Assumption Cathedral after restoration. People could see its interior and listen to the church hymns sang by the choir of the Church of the Nativity of Christ (Cherepovets) during only one evening. Mikhail Sharomazov, director of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum-reserve, Father Superior of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery Ignaty, Sergey Usov, head of the Kirillov district, and Ilya Papin, chairman of the Vologda Archeological Society, attended the opening ceremony. They underlined the significance of the Assumption Cathedral both as an architectural monument and a holy place. Olga Voronicheva, deputy director of restoration, conducted the night tour of the church and told about its history and the work carried out there. Besides, guests could visit the sanctuary of the cathedral in small groups. 17th-century frescoes are being restored there now.
The festival was concluded with the comedy “Day of Rest” presented by the artists of the Vologda Folk Theatre. It is based on Valentin Kataev’s play written in the 1940s. Spectators laughed during the whole performance. According to them, excellent acting deserved admiration.
Along the “Cultural Autumn in the Museum”, the Regional Festival of International Cultures was held in the conference hall of the museum during those days.
