Today, September 5, Moscow's Red Square staged the last evening show of the Fourteenth Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival.
Time, Music and Peace reads the leading theme of the this year's Festival run. "And music, indeed, is the best cure for a human soul that gives hope in the world taken over by the COVID-19 pandemic, that has literally destroyed the everyday life of people all over the world bringing along a lot of bad and negative stuff. However it has also made us revise a lot of things and have a fresh look at such basic values as personal health and security, safety of our family and loved ones, friendship and freedom of movement", noted Lieutenant General Sergey Khlebnikov, Head of the Festival's Artistic Board.
Along these amazing 11 days, from August 26 to September 5, 25280 people witnessed this splendid celebration of military music.
29 military bands, artistic ensembles and horse riding teams from Russia, Belarus, Greece, Mexico and Qatar stepped onto the cobblestones of Red Square. Along with brilliant and unique performances staged by the artistic ensembles and honor guard units, the Festival also welcomed a number of starring guests featuring Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Turetsky Choir, Soprano Art Group and Till Lindemann. As a matter of a long-standing tradition, every night magnificent fireworks lit the skies about Moscow’s Red Square.
Accroding to Mr Sergey Smirnov, Head of the Spasskaya Tower Festival Directorate, the overall number of this year's tattoo participants (both the main stage and horse riding arena) is 1698 people (including musicians, soloists, dancers, conductors, flag wavers and riders). 18 conductors and 108 dancers stepped onto the cooblestones of Red Square, while the Festival's Combined Band featured 1200 people.
The Combined Band with its 1200 participants and the Combined Band of the Russian Airborne Forces with its 150 artists happened to be the most representative. The top four also includes the Suvorov Cadet Band of the Moscow Military Music College named after Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov (with 164 people) and the Central Band of the Border Guard Service (120 participants). While, Hidalgo Show Team was the Festival's smallest participant featuring just six people. As far as the foreign bands are concerned, the most numerous was the Qatar Police Band with its 87 members.
1041 music instruments was used by the Festival's participants, featuring 817 wind, 169 percussion, 13 string, 7 keyboard and 35 other instruments (electronic guitar, bagpipes, accordions). Performance staged by the Suvorov Cadet Band featured 150 instruments, the biggest number of the night, including 100 wind, five percussion and two keyboard pieces.
59 horses have ridden onto the cobblestones of Red Square and Festival's horse riding arena. Several Festival's performances featured various types of arms such as carabines, rifles, sabres, lances and swords.
The most senior participant of the 2021 Spasskaya Tower Festival is Lev Kolokoltsev, musician of the Exemplary Military Band of the Honor Guard, who is 80 years old, while the youngest participant is only 13 and she's the student of the All-Girls Boarding School of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The horse riding arena welcomed 88 participants including 66 riders, 10 members of the children flanking team and 12 soloist of the Moscow Cossacks Choir. The youngest is Dmitriy Kovalenko who's only six years old.
Let's dwell upon some technical figures.
The horse riding arena covered a space of 25 to 80 meters. It was constructed in five days and filled with 600 tons of sand, every day up to four tons of water was used to water it.
The stands were constructed out of 330 tons of metal pieces, another 150 tons were used to build the control tower, the press center and tents. 450 lighting units were installed on the stand, 1584 pyrotechnical pieces were used along the Festival's 11 days as well as 1375 fireworks shots.
The Fourteenth Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival is over. We hope that all the participants will bring back home only positive emotions about Russia, our rich culture and glorious history, as well as about the hospitality of our people. Meanwhile, guests of our Festival will keep this multinational celebration of music in their hearts for good.
