More than 1,500 spectators attended George Dalaras’ concert in Moscow, including hundreds of Russian and Greek tourism officials, executives, directors and owners of travel agencies and organisations, numerous foreign ambassadors, Russian government and government officials, and Russian officials.
The concert for Greece – in the Synod Hall of the Moscow Cathedral, next to the Kremlin, was organised by the Ministry of Tourism of Greece and GNTO; it was the solemn celebration of the Year of Tourism Greece-Russia.
Russian media and social networks were “flooded” with references to the concert, Greek culture and Greek-Russian friendship, at the ideal time, shortly before the start of the tourist season. There were more than 70 reports in the Russian press. The music figures of the Russian capital continues to discuss the unique and now historic concert of the leading Greek singer.
The event, on the occasion of Greek tourism, turned into a “top cultural event, a legacy of similar concerts sought by the Russian public,” according to a statement from Mr. Pavel Ofsyanikov, Russia’s top conductor for many years. The Kremlin Symphony Orchestra, which has repeatedly collaborated with G. Dalaras in the past.
The praise for the top event of the Greek-Russian tourism year was numerous on Russian media and social networks. Among them, the opinion of the greatest Russian music critic Mr. Vadim Ponomariov, who praised the professionalism and the “improvisation fountain” of Greek musicians, who turned the audience of the hall into a choir. She described the concert as “the appearance of a great metro, a high art act”, expressing hope that new collaborations between G. Dalaras and her symphony orchestras would soon emerge in Russia, as well as more concerts by Greek performers in front of the Russian public, thirsty for Greek music.
Among the guests, who finally got up and started dancing in front of the stage and around the theater square, a fact unprecedented for the musical history of the Russian capital, were also Russian government officials, governors, representatives of the Greek Church and Foreign Ministry correspondents, while the event was welcomed by the Minister of Tourism Mrs. Elena Kountoura and the Ambassador of Greece to Moscow Mr. Andreas Phryganas.
The reappearance of George Dalaras with a multi-member format in a highly symbolic music scene in Moscow and even after eighteen whole years, organized by the Ministry of Tourism and the Hellenic Tourism Organization, was made possible thanks to the sponsorships of Aegean Airlines, Travel Group Mouzidis , the Rhodes Hoteliers Association and the Rodos Palace.
