The Russian capital is celebrating its 867th birthday. Moscow City Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of September. In 2014, celebrations will be held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7. By tradition, hundreds of holiday sites will be open for the City Day, with performances by popular artists, fairs, festivals, carnivals and traditional fireworks.
SINGING PARK
The theme of this weekend in the Gorky Park sounds like «Singing Park». The program includes the alley of musical sculptures, musical-procession of the park staff, serenades on boats, chorus of squirrels and much more. Last year festival invited musicians and visitors to participate; this year every bush will start singing. The epicenter of the festival will be a theatrical musical procession staged by director of «Cops on Fire» – Yuri Kwiatkowski.
Among other things, the park will host a massive Ice Bucket Challenge (if you want to join, register here). It will be held on September 7 at Pushkinskaya Embankment in the Gorky Park and will have the maximum number of participants. The procedure will be a little bit changed: instead of watering themselves, participants will water each other in chain.
In addition, petanque café La Boule promises alive karaoke – you can sing along with guest musicians. Those who is not interested in music can visit in the Garage Center for Contemporary Art, whose educational center will hold an Open Day on September 6.
GREEN BOULEVARD
On the first Saturday of September in the city’s Sretensky Boulevard will turn into Green. There will be a kaleidoscope of unusual landscape installations, music, master classes on different themes and experiments on urban and private space.
The program of the Green Boulevard aims to open creativity of participants. On the City Day, you will be able to enjoy sensitive soul and jazz rhythms and mater-class on creating interior objects will smoothly flow into the collective eco-puzzles solving.
Variety of art objects will give guests an opportunity to visit a nano-zoo, to admire the beauty of blooming Italian gardens and make a wish near the magic tree. You will see an installation from the old paper bags and natural materials, practice Qigong and yoga, make handicrafts toys from linen. Visitors will be able to taste peanut brittle and handmade halva, muesli, Altai tea, Japanese desserts and so on. Farmers will sell products and vegetables grown in ecologically clean regions of Russia. Festival «City-Garden» will be responsible for this part of the program.
The entire program of the Green Boulevard wants to develop interaction between culture and ecology in the urban environment. Musicians and artists will try to bring to the citizens, why we should care about the environment and sort garbage.
«JAZZ ESTATE»
Vorontsovsky Park and Kuskovo estate will filled with jazz. The first place will hold relatively new Moscow Jazz Festival, and the second will become the venue for the autumn festival «Jazz Estate». Here you will able to listen to russian group «Quartet», African-Belgian Zap Mama, ensemble Pervoe Solnce and Exotic Band of Oleg Kireyev. In Vorontsovsky Park, you can listen to Betty Boop Lovers, Alevtina Polyakova and Luxembourg trio Jeff Herr Corporation.
From 14 to 22 hours in the museum-estate will be two music stages, the main is situated in front of a large stone Orangery – this is where the first owners of Kuskovo organized receptions and gave concerts.
Theatre of the Air will have a poetic scene where art group «Poets of Taganka» will present their program and a string quartet «Sophia» will perform masterpieces of classical, baroque and romantic music. Art association «TSEH №1» will open the exhibition «Ceramics on the grass», which will host workshops on sculpting, pottery and ceramics.
The inner facade of the Palace will be equipped for children’s play area, with training sessions and exciting educational games with animators.
Moscow designers will present original and interesting goods on the traditional «Jazz Estate» Design Market. In addition, guests will be entertained by mimes and entertainers in fancy costumes and marching Orchestra MosBras will move through the alleys, urging visitors to join the parade.
The festival will open its territory on Saturday at 14.00. Entrance is free.