The National Centre RUSSIA invites to the All-Russian Classical Music Marathon

On Russia Day, 12 June, the gala concert of the All-Russian Classical Music Marathon "Cantata. Russia" will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA. The programme will be arranged as a musical journey through Russian culture, from Glinka to Sviridov. Fine art and academic music will be brought together through a new format: works from the Tretyakov Gallery collection will be digitised and shown to audiences as an interactive exposition within a classical music concert.

Moscow will be the key region of the marathon, and the main event will be held in the space of the National Centre RUSSIA. This year, the marathon will bring together 15 regions and cities: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Astrakhan, Cherepovets, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Yoshkar-Ola, Ryazan, Rostov Veliky, Rostov-on-Don, Khabarovsk, Cheboksary and the Republic of Karelia. The concerts are expected to bring together around 20,000 spectators across the country.

Classical music will be performed not only in traditional concert halls, but also in landmark spaces: the Astrakhan and Ryazan kremlins, Cathedral Square in Rostov Veliky, Komsomolskaya Square in Khabarovsk and Red Square in Cheboksary. In Cherepovets, the concert will be held for the first time on the territory of a metallurgical plant, with blast furnaces becoming the scenery and highlighting the dialogue between art and industry.

In 2026, the festival will be held under the slogan "Ahead of Time" and will carry the idea of bringing together musical and artistic works that stand out for their ability to create new meanings, formats and ideas, inspire different generations of listeners and remain relevant for decades. The festival programme will focus on composers whose work had a decisive influence on the development of academic music and opened up new artistic directions.

Works by Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and other composers whose work formed the foundation of the Russian academic tradition will be performed in all participating cities. The programme includes performances by symphony orchestras, choirs, soloists and conductors from different regions.

The key idea of the marathon is to present academic music as an important part of the country’s shared cultural life. Modern research records steady interest in theatre, opera, ballet and classical concerts, including among young audiences. More and more people are choosing intellectual leisure and are ready to discover academic music in new formats and spaces. The "Cantata. Russia" marathon responds precisely to this demand: symphonic and choral programmes move beyond concert halls and become part of the urban environment.

Join one of the country’s largest events in the field of academic art. You can register on the russia.ru website in the "Events" section. Follow the updates.