UCLan joins forces with Russian State Institute for Art Studies to host event in Lancashire
The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is to host a major Cultural Studies conference next month to help celebrate British-Russian Year of Music 2019, with members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra taking centre stage during two prestigious free concerts in Preston city centre.
The Third International Conference in Russian Studies will take place on 6 and 7 November and will include performances by a British viola duet who are members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Harris Museum on Wednesday 6 November.
This will be followed by a second concert featuring a string trio of combined Russian and British musicians in the Main Theatre of the UCLan Media Factory on Thursday 7 November, which will include a world premiere of ‘Evening Sea’ by Alexander Vustin.
The free events will celebrate the musical and artistic links between Russia and the United Kingdom and will feature talks, discussions and other activities, all focusing on the links between British and Russian art, literature, music and culture. It includes a special session looking at the influence of Russian classical music on British rock music.
"We really want to celebrate the very best of Russian and British cultures during this event and how we continue to exchange great ideas in music and the arts."
The first concert, to be staged at the Harris Museum between 3.00pm and 4.00pm on 6 November, will feature Peter Mallinson and Matthias Wiesner from the BBC Symphony Orchestra performing ‘A Tale of Two Violas’, while on Thursday, between 3.00pm and 4.00pm, Viktoria Zora, Elena Artamonova and Rebecca Turner will perform ‘A journey through the 20th Century and Beyond’.
The first part of this joint Russian-British venture took place in Moscow on 10 and 11 October. It featured performances from both Russian and English musicians. Both UCLan organisers of the event, Dr Olga Tabachnikova and Dr Elena Artamonova, took part in the Moscow leg of the joint conference.
The British part of the conference was organised by UCLan’s Vladimir Vysotsky Centre for Russian Studies, of which Dr Tabachnikova is the Director. The academic in UCLan’s School of Language and Global Studies, said: “This is a magnificent event and a really exciting way to celebrate the Russian-British Year of music! The Moscow leg of the conference has had a tremendous success, featuring key figures of the Russian-British musical world such as Vladimir Jurowski, Gerard McBurney and Elizabeth Wilson, and we are confident that our Preston sequel will match that success.
“We really want to celebrate the very best of Russian and British cultures during this event and how we continue to exchange great ideas in music and the arts. Events like this are also a great way to forge international friendships and creative collaborations between different cultures and nations. It is also an excellent learning opportunity for our students.”
The conference opens on the morning of 6 November and will run until the evening of 7 November, with most key conference events taking place in UCLan’s Adelphi Conference Room.
For more details on the full timetable of events pleased contact Dr Tabachnikova at otabachnikova@uclan.ac.uk or see the Vladimir Vysotsky Centre for Slavonic Studies.