Artek recently hosted the final stage of the Live Classics International Contest for Young Reciters. A total of 12 young people from different countries made it through the qualifying rounds. The three winners of the contest will now participate in the superfinal, which will be held in Moscow’s Red Square on June 2.
This year, a total of 250 school students from 60 countries participated in the Live Classics international contest at Artek. The list of finalists included 12 participants from Estonia, Scotland, Uzbekistan, Mexico, the US, Italy, the Lugansk People’s Republic, Azerbaijan, Israel, Zambia, Slovakia and Hungary. All of them competed for three places in the contest’s superfinal.
The audience and contest participants were greeted by members of the jury, which included Artek director Konstantin Fedorenko, Chekhov Moscow Art Theater actress Kseniya Lavrova-Glinka, science fiction writer Dmitry Yemets, Tavrida State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company producer Kristina Strilenko and chairman of the jury, actor and director Andrei Noskov. The jury’s task was to evaluate the participants’ performance, plasticity and artistic skills.
“The Live Classics contest never fails to surprise me,” said Konstantin Fedorenko. “Fifty thousand school children took part in this international contest! And now, the top 250 are here at Artek. This contest exemplifies how greatly young citizens of various countries wish to study the Russian language and the great Russian literature.”
“What is important for us is that the final stage of this international recitation contest is being held here, at the Artek International Children’s Center,” said the founder of the Live Classics foundation Marina Smirnova. “The Russian language and literature brought together all the children that performed here today. We are surprised by the skill level of this year’s participants: the literature passages of their choice are deep, and the children themselves are very good, too. Some of them are still just learning the Russian language, but their recitation skills are very strong nevertheless. We created mixed groups with participants from Russia and foreign countries in advance to ensure the kids’ full immersion with the language
During the performances, the audience laughed, encouraged and applauded the participants. Those who went onstage felt the support of their fellow Artek campers, making every performance sound even better than the previous one. The jury members had the difficult task of choosing only the three best acts out of all 12 brilliantly delivered performances. “When you listen to the contestants, your brain, feelings and emotions are all engaged equally,” said Andrei Noskov, chairman of the jury. “Sometimes, you are overwhelmed with humor, and sometimes, with the passion of the performance – and it is really easy to make a mistake when it comes to assessing them. We heard very different literature excerpts recited today, but their delivery was incredible across the board. We should congratulate both the contest and Artek on this.”
According to the final scores, the three winners are Kendra Kurisman from Estonia, Ivan Telegin from Azerbaijan and Petra Psotova from Slovakia. All of them will perform at the contest’s superfinal, which will be held in Moscow’s Red Square on June 2.
After the award ceremony, the Live Classics superfinalists shared their impressions. “Everyone says that my accent is very cute,” said Kendra Kurisman from Estonia, who recited Ksenia Dragunskaya’s story Khuligan (Bully). “Perhaps that is why my score was a bit higher than the others’. Or maybe because I was trained at a drama school and I feel comfortable onstage. I hope the contest in Moscow will go just as well as here. Artek is the best place for this contest; it brings together children from all over the world, and I met very good friends from different countries here.”
22/05/2019