June 2, 2007: A charity concert was held in Moscow on International Children’s DayOn June 1, 2007, a charity concert was held in the the famous architectural ensemble Kolomenskoye in Moscow. The starring artists were Mariya Gulegina, Larissa Dolina, Denis Matsuyev, Yuri Gorodetsky, Dmitry Maiboroda, the symphony orchestra "New Russia" directed by Yuri Bashmet and one of Russia’s best choirs - the Mendeleev Academic Choir. More than 3,000 guests attended the concert where they had a chance to enjoy the splendor of classic and jazz music superbly performed by outstanding artists. Due to a sudden weather deterioration and strong wind, the artists had to perform under extreme conditions. However, this was only a slight impediment to their incomparable performance! UNICEF and "GlobArts", the organizer of the event, as well as numerous guests who attended the concert would like to express their sincere appreciation to the outstanding concert performers and all those who assisted in arranging the concert, especially Moscow First Deputy Mayor Ms. L.I.Shvetsova; Ms. L.I. Guseva, Head of the Department for Family and Youth Policy of the Moscow City Government; Ms. L.P. Kolesnikova, Director of the Kolomenskoye museum; and many others. The concert organizers pursued two principal goals: to unify efforts of various layers of society, including government agencies, in addressing pressing problems of childhood and raise additional funds towards the UNICEF programme "Child protection" in Moscow. The first goal was fully achieved: the government agencies, the performing artists who agreed to donate their concert fees for the benefit of children, the spectators who bought the tickets and people who participated in the SMS campaign "Help children: send an SMS DETI to number 2005" – all of them have brought together their efforts to benefit children. As to the proceeds from the ticket sales towards the programme "Child protection", their amount proved to be considerably lower than expected, which is largely explained by difficult weather conditions on the eve of and on the day of the concert. We’ll be providing regular information on our web-site about the funds raised and the progress in implementing the "Child protection" programme in Moscow. We hope to succeed in raising additional funds in the course of the SMS campaign and during other charity concerts that we intend to hold on a regular basis. We would also like to express our gratitude to the concert sponsors – Amway, Nokia and the hotel Baltschug Kempinski – for their support of the organizational costs of the concert which would not be possible without them. There is little doubt that the weather conditions on the day of the concert deserve to be specially mentioned. Following a week of unheard-of hot weather, a hurricane descended upon the city early on Friday morning on the day of the concert, which partially destroyed the platform stage erected the day before. A very strong wind was blowing all day long; within a few hours, the temperature dropped sharply; a storm warning remained in effect throughout the day and it rained occasionally. A lot of initially planned activities could not be implemented due to the unfavorable weather conditions. Actually, the organizers were discussing the possibility of cancellation of the concert because of the force-majeure circumstances. However, the decision was made to do everything possible to ensure the concert could go ahead. Such a decision required courage from the concert organizers, the performing artists and the audience. However, no one seemed to regret that decision afterwards. Even the weather seemed to have approved the decision: immediately before the beginning of the concert, the wind subsided slightly, the sky started to clear up, and when Mariya Gulegina was singing her incomparable "Ave Maria", the sun came out and the eyes of some of those present glistened with tears... They felt something very important was happening bringing them all together that particular moment, something that was the best the people could have – high art and children. A photo essay is available which shows some of the most exciting moments of this charity concert.
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