Russian composer and film director will recieve the award from violist and conductor Yuri Bashmet
A gala ceremony of awarding the Dmitry Shostakovich will take place in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on Saturday.
This year, the awardees are composer Eduard Artemyev and film director Nikita Mikhalkov, the press service of the latter said. They will receive the award from violist and conductor Yuri Bashmet, one of the biggest authorities in contemporary Russian music.
Eduard Artemyev, 79, has won international acclaim for composing electronic music and film scores. He has authored soundtracks to the movies Solaris, Siberiade, Stalker, A Slave of Love, An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano, Family Relations, Burnt by the Sun, and Urga.
Many of the films he composed music for were directed by Mikhalkov.
After the ceremony, the Novaya Rossiya (New Russia) symphony orchestra is expected to give a concert of music for film.
The Yuri Bashmet charity foundation established the Shostakovich prize in 1994. The winners are entitled to receiving $ 25,000.
Since the date of establishing, the organizers have awarded it to the outstanding musicians like conductor Valery Gergiev, violinist Gidon Kremer, cellist Natalya Gutmanm pianist Yevgeny Kisin, violinist Maxim Vengerov, composer Viktor Tretyakov, and operatic diva Olga Borodina.
The prize is also awarded to non-musicians. Standing out among them is Irina Antonova, the legendary former director of Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
The Yuri Bashmet Foundation pursues the objectives of maintaining the spiritual and artistic values of world and Russian cultures and assisting young talented musicians.
