"Our romance. Dialogue of cultures"

On November 2, 2019 at 19.00 in Helsinki (Finland) the annual gala concert Our Romance. Dialogue of Cultures ”is a joint project of St. Petersburg and Finland. This year, the venue will again be the Palace of Finland, which has hosted a gala concert for many years.

One of the main tasks of this cultural and educational project is to preserve and popularize the traditions and national musical heritage of Russia and Finland. Spectators of the gala concert will hear everyone’s favorite Russian and Finnish romances, popular pop and classical pieces of music and perky potpourri of world-famous melodies.

Famous Russian and Finnish performers will take the stage tonight: the winner of the seventh television season of the Golos music contest Petr Zakharov, the laureate of international contests Alena Petrovskaya, the Finnish tango king Kyousti Myakimattila, one of the best tenors in Finland Pentti Hietanen, the winner of the IDOLS music project Diandra, leading Finnish novelist Elena Putin. The gala concert will also feature one of the world’s leading jazz musicians - People’s Artist of Russia Igor Butman together with his quintet and a “visiting card” of St. Petersburg, a unique collective of Russian folk instruments “Terem Quartet”. The concert will be decorated by the Boys’ Choir of the National Opera of Estonia, led by Hirvo Survo. The traditional leader and one of the concert soloists is again the famous Finnish cultural figure Mikko Leppilampi.

Gala concerts of the project “Our Romance. Cultural Dialogue ”, held at the best concert venues on both sides of the border, has for 16 years made a significant contribution to the development of the cultural dialogue between St. Petersburg and Finland and have always been popular with both the Russian public and Finnish audiences. The author and permanent leader of the project is a brilliant singer of romances, Elena Putin, a Petersburger who currently lives in Finland. The gala concert is supported by the Committee on Culture of St. Petersburg, the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, as well as the Ministry of Culture and Foreign Trade of Finland.

In addition to the cultural program presented by a large-scale gala concert, the project also hosts a business forum uniting the leaders of large business and political figures of Russia and Finland, including heads of cities and regions, representatives of the Government of St. Petersburg and ministries of Finland, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the Parliament of Finland.