“Dostoevsky” is a festive trip. It was called that for a reason: it will not be possible to simply go back and forth to Zaraysk, here you need to think about the route (after all, it is 182 kilometers from Moscow and about three hours of travel), and a place to spend the night. It would be nice to walk around the city outside the festival (they say it looks like a music box) and also look at the picturesque surroundings. In addition, Kolomna, Kashira are nearby…
“This festival is in a way a gamble, a roulette wheel,” warns Evgeny Mironov. – But let us remember that Dostoevsky was a gambler, a gambler. Zaraysk fascinated me; when I arrived there, I was simply stunned: how could I not have seen this pearl before? In “Darovoy” there were other emotions: there is a small outbuilding and… That’s all. But suddenly it dawned on me: there is an outbuilding, there is a river where little Fedya ran to swim, there is a grove that he saw. The main thing has been preserved! The rest is the work of the creators and our imagination.
The artistic director of the festival says: “The most important thing is that I wanted to create an event worthy of Fyodor Mikhailovich, and the angle for the first season of the festival was deliberately chosen so that it would be unusual – a happy Dostoevsky.” Yes, the author of Crime and Punishment could be like that! And he was precisely in “Darovoy”. And this, apparently, is the only episode of his memoirs in which he directly says that here, on the estate, in his childhood, he was happy… All this inspired Mironov so much that he thought of the idea of creating his own “film about his childhood” – the great classic – in Zaraysk, on the estate where little Fedya grew up.
“In the Moscow region, rich in unique and world-famous names, Darovoe and Zaraysk seemed to us to be one of the “anchors”, another place of power,” said the regional Minister of Culture and Tourism Vasily Kuznetsov. – I want these places to “sound”, to be heard. So that great artists, musicians and, of course, tourists come here…
Kuznetsov approached Evgeny Mironov with the idea of creating a festival. Of course, it was not in vain: Fyodor Mikhailovich, one might say, is no stranger to the artist, he has more than once played the great writer in film and theatre. And of course, he immediately responded.
The programme is as multi-genre as possible. The festival will present six of its own premieres. One of them will open the holiday: the concert play “Poor People”, starring Evgeny Mironov and Yulia Khlynina, with Yuri Bashmet and his orchestra “Moscow Soloists” providing musical accompaniment.
The finale promises to be brilliant too: all guests are invited to the beach near the Sturgeon River, along which Dostoevsky’s heroes will sail on rafts. But this is not just a parade of characters, but a real phantasmagoria, with choreography and music. Can you guess them all? In any case, ask director Yuri Kvyatkovsky.
For young viewers there are two more premieres. Puppet. Based on little Fedya’s favourite works: the biblical “Book of Job” and the romantic “Ivanhoe” by Walter Scott.
The combination of “Dostoevsky and music” will also be very unusual. How many times has the writer attended Liszt concerts? Why did you especially love Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata? Guests will be able to enjoy Dostoevsky’s jazz and, you won’t believe it, “Crime and Punishment” by the Rap Theatre.
Expect meetings with writers and academics, workshops with artists to create art objects, carnival processions and much more.
For food lovers, there will be a gastronomic fair based on recipes from the Dostoevsky family. Cheese, Zaraysk gingerbread, hot tea… Even crayfish are promised.
– This is only the first festival and I really hope that it will be successful. And that Fyodor Mikhailovich will help us in this, – Evgeny Mironov summed up.
The festival has already opened its website, where you can see the line-up, buy tickets and create your own route to Dostoevsky.
And along the way, the organizers promise that you won’t be bored: a special audio track containing useful and interesting information about the festival and the venues where it will be held will soon be available on the website.
