Svetlana Kasyan Russian Opera singer, soloist of the New Opera theatre in Moscow, Dame of the Order of St. Sylvester

Svetlana is the owner of a unique, complex voice. The singer is known and loved all over the world. After the performance of Giacomo Puccini's Opera Tosca, Pope Francis granted her several audiences in Italy, presenting her with the order of Saint Sylvester. Svetlana became the first Opera singer to receive this award.

The singer trained with Dmitry Vdovin at the Bolshoi theater, as well as with Placido Domingo in Washington. There are more than twenty games in Svetlana's archive! These include the roles of Odabella in Attila at the Luciano Pavarotti theatre in Modena, Manon Lescaut in the Opera of the same name at the Reggio Theatre in Turin, the title roles in Madame butterfly at La Fenice in Venice, and Tosca at La Fenice. In 2015, Svetlana made her debut in England as Amelia ("masquerade Ball"). Verdi).

Svetlana has worked with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Gianandrea Noseda, Stefan Anton Reck, Christopher Mulds, Pavel Kogan, Vladimir Fedoseev, Dmitry Yurovsky, and others.

Leonid Yuzefovich Russian writer and screenwriter, winner of the first Big Book award and the National Bestseller award

Leonid Yuzefovich's books have been translated into English, German, French, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Bulgarian, and Mongolian. Publications are being prepared in Chinese, Serbian, and Estonian. In 2017, Leonid Abramovich became the author of the text "Total dictation". The writer expressed his love for the three cities in which his life was spent, and for the three great rivers on which these cities stand: "Perm. Kama", " Ulan-Ude. Selenga " and " Saint Petersburg. Neva». Many of the writer's works were filmed. He is also the author of the original scripts for the TV series "Death of the Empire" (2005) and the film "Silver samurai" (2007).

He made his literary debut in 1977 with the novel betrothal to liberty. In 1993, a documentary novel about Baron von Ungern-Sternberg "the Autocrat of the desert" was published and brought the author fame. Leonid Yuzefovich received wide public recognition after the release of a series of historical detectives about the detective Ivan Putilin.

Barbara Jatta The Director of Vatican Museums

Barbara Yatta is the first woman in the long history of the papal art collection to serve as Director of Vatican museums. Yatta assumed this position on January 1, 2017. Prior to her appointment, the Director worked for 20 years at the Vatican library. Since 2010, Barbara Yatta has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the grafica d'arte magazine. She has collaborated and personally organized several exhibitions and participated in numerous publishing initiatives in the field of graphic history and art. Since 2018, she is a member of the Scientific Council of the Louvre Museum.

In 2018, thanks to Barbara Yatta, an unprecedented project was implemented: the Tretyakov gallery presented "Masterpieces of the Vatican Pinacoteca", and the Vatican museums-a unique exhibition of the Tretyakov gallery " Russian way. From Dionysius to Malevich." The main masterpieces of Raphael, Caravaggio, Melozzo da Forli and many other pearls of the Vatican Pinacoteca went to Moscow.

Julian Henry Lowenfeld Poet, playwright, composer and translator from eight languages, trial lawyer. The author of the only bilingual collection of selected poetry and biography of A. S. Pushkin "My Talisman", winner of the "Petropavlovsk" prize and the honorary badge "For Friendship and Cooperation" from the federal agency "Rossotrudnichestvo".

He was born in Washington in a family of hereditary lawyers. His father is Andreas Lowenfeld, one of the pillars of the modern system of international law. His textbooks published by the University of Oxford are still widely used by students of international and commercial law worldwide. His mother, Elena Lowenfeld, is the daughter of the last mayor of Havana under Batista, guitarist and art critic. Julian has German-Jewish, Scottish-Irish, Cuban, Spanish, and Portuguese roots.

Lowenfeld's great-grandfather, a famous German Slavist Raphael Löwenfeld, was a correspondent of the Berlin newspaper "Berliner Tageblatt" in St. Petersburg and the first translator of Leo Tolstoy's works into German, as well as the author of his literary biography "Conversations about Tolstoy with Tolstoy". The world premiere of Tolstoy's play "The Power of Darkness" was staged at the Schiller Theater founded by Löwenfeld in Berlin. After the revolution in Russia, the Nabokov family lived with the Löwenfeld in Berlin. Vladimir Nabokov, who made a significant contribution to the study of Pushkin's work, began writing poems and short stories under the pseudonym V. Sirin in the year when he lived in the Löwenfeld house in Berlin.

Julian graduated with honors from Harvard University, with a diploma in Russian literature, then continued his studies in Russia – first as an exchange student at Leningrad State University, and later, independently, under the guidance of the recognized Pushkin scholar Nadezhda Braginskaya. He has performed with his translations, lectures about Pushkin, and music based on Pushkin's poems in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, in the Pushkin House (Institute of Russian Literature), Pushkin's Apartment Museum in St. Petersburg, in the State Pushkin Museum, Pushkin Memorial Apartment in Moscow, in Audley Hall and Pushkin House in London, at Trinity College in Dublin, at the National Folger Shakespeare Library and the Library of Congress in Washington, at Carnegie Hall, In the Lobby, at the Donnell Art Center, the Baryshnikov Art Center, the National Society of Arts, the Actor's House, at the UN and many other places in New York, at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and many universities and schools in the USA, Canada and the UK, on tour throughout Alaska, in various branches of the New York, Boston and Philadelphia Public Libraries, on the radio stations "Life-FM", "Russia", "Culture", "BBC", "SiBiSi", RTEIRLAND, on the TV channels "Culture", "Tsargrad", "Russia", "RBC", "Russian Hour", on Channel One, and many other major Russian and international TV channels.

After receiving a law degree with honors from New York University and becoming a well-known specialist in the protection of intellectual property, Julian became famous as the "Cheburashka lawyer": he repeatedly and always successfully represented the interests of Russian media and film studios in court, including Soyuzmultfilm, Mosfilm and Lenfilm. He also translated into English the films of such famous Russian film directors as E. Ryazanova, Yu. Mamina and many Soyuzmultfilm cartoons, including "The Snow" and a series of unique political cartoons from 1924-1986, which won the New York Times Critics' Choice Award.

In 2009, he translated and staged Pushkin's "Little Tragedies" at the Mikhail Baryshnikov Art Center in New York. The book of translations of Pushkin's lyrics and poetic biography "My Talisman, The Poetry and Life of Alexander Pushkin" (the only bilingual edition of Pushkin in print) was awarded the literary and artistic prize "Petropavlovsk" in June 2010. It was the first time this prize was awarded to a foreigner.
In 2012, he translated Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov's "The Unholy Saints and Other Stories" into English. The translation received the first prize at the ReadRussia 2012 Festival in New York.

In 2013, Lowenfeld was awarded the honorary badge "For Friendship and Cooperation" by the federal agency "Rossotrudnichestvo" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for outstanding literary translations and dedicated work to popularize Russian culture in English.

Recent works include the script and score of the full-length musical production "Thanksgiving"; plans include a classical production of Pushkin's "Little Tragedies "on the Russian stage with his musical score, a translation of the famous rock opera "Yunona i Аvos", as well as the publication of a book of poems and translations "Nonetheless")

Daniele Cipriani Impresario of dance, art and ballet

Daniele Cipriani, a graduate of the National Academy of Dance, started organizing events, trainings and conferences, both independently and in collaboration with the Roman universities of La Sapienza and the Third University of Rome (Roma Tre) at a young age.

Already being the artistic director of the dance part of the Ravello Music Festival (from 2008 to 2010) and the Leonide Massine Dance Prize in Positano (from 2011 to 2015), he created the Benoit-Massine Moscow-Positano Prize in partnership with the Benoit Dance Prize, awarded for the first time in 2014 in Positano and at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

In addition, he is the curator of numerous dance celebrations and ballets presented at major theaters and major festivals in Italy, such as Taormina Art, Festival in Ravenna, Mittelfest, Como — City of the Music, Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Festival in Ravenna, Concert Hall of the Music Park in Rome, Concert Hall of Reconciliation in Rome, Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, and abroad, at the National Theater in Addis Ababa, and recently at the Coliseum Theater of Buenos Aires and the National Theater of Bahrain.

In 2003, Daniele Cipriani founded Daniele Cipriani Entertainment, an entertainment company that produces and organizes dance shows, promotes some of the world's most recognized international dance companies, such as Martha Graham Dance Company, Twila Tarp Dance, Susanne Linke, Lutz Forster and Lemon Dance Company.

For the Mythof Festival in Positano in 2009, he created and oversaw the show "Apollo and Dionysus", offering the public for the first time in history a dance performance on the island of Li Galli, formerly owned by Leonid Massine, and later by Rudolf Nureyev.

At the show, curated by Daniele Cipriani, some of the largest international artists danced, such as Eleanor Abbagnano, Marianela Nunez, Caroline Carlson, Suzanne Linke, Roberto Bolle, Carla Fracci, Luciane Savignano, Svetlana Zakharova, Mats Ek, Ana Laguni, Dominic Merinic, Dominic Merinic Manuel Legri, Aurel Dupont, Joaquin De Luz, Sergio Bernal, Nicolas Le Risch, Leonid Sarafanov, Vladimir Sklyarov, Lucia Lacar, Ivan Vasiliev, Sylvia Azzoni, Davide Dato, Polina Semenova and many others.

Among the most important events there are some special projects, including the show "Man and Woman of Modern Dance" for the Ravello Festival in 2008, which was shown on the stage in collaboration with the dancers Marta Graham and the dancers Jose Limon.

Among the events dedicated to great artists in the history of music and dance, the evening "Chopin and Dance" (2010) in the Castle of Fenis for the Valle d'Aosta Region, "Leonard Bernstein Dance Gala Concert" (2010) in the Ancient Theater of Taormina, "7 Dances for Mozart" (2008) in Reggia di Portici, "Tribute to Rudolf Nureyev", in 2013 in the Auditorium of the Music Park in Rome, in 2018 at the Roman Amphitheater in Spoleto, "Eleanor Abbagnano with Italian World Stars", and in June 2019 at Spoleto Cathedral Square for the Festival of Two Worlds. These performances are complemented by great anniversary events for the municipality of Rome, such as "Every wall sooner or later falls" (2009) at the Trajan's Markets in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and "Women" (2014) on the World Day against Violence against Women in the Hall Esedra Marcus Aurelius at the Capitoline Museums. Numerous gala concerts and shows featuring Eleanor Abbayano, stars of the Paris Opera House Ballet: among them "Eleanor Abbiano - Dance for Luchino Visconti" (Villa Olmo on Lake Como, City of Music 2012), "Eleonora Abbiano Dance for Stradivarius" (Cremona, Mid-Summer Festival, 2011), "Eleanor Abbiano in Keep in mind", a gala dinner in honor of the women Gabriele D'Annunzio (New Victory Festival, Gardone Riviera, 2011). Various performances were shown by Rai 5.

In 2012, Daniele Cipriani Entertainment was officially recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Activities as a company for creating dance shows and performances.

In recent years, Daniele Cipriani has implemented an extensive project to restore the Italian repertoire of the second half of the 18th century, starting with the acquisition of the historic Nutcracker Amedeo Amodio, with scenes and costumes by Emanuele Luzzati. The tour of the last seasons registered more than 50 thousand spectators, and the show was included in the programs of opera funds and major Italian theaters. The same project included the ballet "Coppelia" by Amedeo Amodio, with scenes by Emanuel Luzzati and costumes by Louise Spinatelli, and "Carmen" by the same Amodio (scenes and costumes by Louise Spinatelli). In 2018, Daniele Cipriani's company returned Mauro Bigonzetti to the stage of the ballet "Mediterranean": the performance was a guest of the prestigious Winter International Art Festival in Sochi (Russia), and is still touring the largest Italian theaters.

Also, in 2018, Puccini debuted at the Municipal Theater of Modena, choreography by Julien Lester, starring Eleanor Abbagnano, a joint production of Italy and France, companies Daniele Cipriani Entertainment and Company Julien Lestel. In June 2019, Shine Pink Floyd Moon debuted at the Ravenna Festival, a performance directed and choreographed by Micah Van Hoyke on Pink Floyd songs, with live music by the Italian group Pink Floyd Legend, soloists and corps de ballet of companies Daniele Cipriani and star Denis Ganio.

His show "Stars", an international gala concert of dance with world ballet stars, has an annual extraordinary success: in 2018, tickets were sold for all places at the gala concerts in the Concert Hall of the Music Park in Rome, at the Cagliari Opera House (with orchestra and theater choir) and at the La Fenice Theater in Venice; in 2019 at the Ravenna Festival, and the next January 2020, with three evenings, again in the Concert Hall of the Music Park in Rome.

Daniele Cipriani Entertainment is the only Italian company represented in recent seasons in most Italian opera houses, such as the Putricelli Theater in Bari, Verdi Theater in Trieste, Opera House in Cagliari, Reggio Theater in Turin, La Fenice Theater in Venice, Carlo Felice in Genoa, Spheristerio in Macerata. Among the most important ties are collaboration with the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Opera House in Rome.

Daniele Cipriani was established in 2019 | Arte, department of Daniele Cipriani Entertainment, dedicated to art events. Among the first initiatives: the evening "Midday Prelude to the Animal World (Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) | Dance "Music of the Word" for Artcity 2018, on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Claude Debussy, who returned to the stage the historical creation of Amedeo Amodio in 1972 at the Giacomo Manzu Museum from Ardea with live music from Emanuele De Esposti and Massimo Mercelli, with the participation of actress Vanessa Gravin; from March 14 to May 11, 2019, the exhibition "FRAGMENTS. Tribute to Pine Bausch "with photographs of Ninni Romeo ten years after the death of the great German artist: curator of the exhibition Frederic Deschamps, Leonetta Bentivoglio's presentation text, was posted in Марle Margutta Wedgergerian Food & Art in Rome.

Numerous over the years, awards and recognition, including the Silver Commemorative Badge of the President of the Republic Carlo Azelio Ciampi in 2003, the Monte dei Pasca Prize — Italy, which dances in 2009 and the Anita Bucca Prize in 2009 and 2010. In 2013, the mayor of Rome granted Daniele Cipriani, in the Capitol, a medal of the capital of Rome. Recent awards include: Best Italian Dance Box Office Dance Oscar 2016/2017, presented to Daniele Cipriani, director of the legendary Caz Ricordi Cristiano Ostinelli October 29, 2017; in 2018, "Fiji Award for shows — Europe at the sources", Golden Amphitheater Award for the art of dance "In memory of Ricardo Nunez", "Madds Award" for art production, "Aqui on the Stage" award.

Alisher Usmanov Businessman, philanthropist, founder of the Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation

The Foundation stands for preserving and enhancing Russia's cultural heritage, supporting the country's scientific and sports potential, and creating an inclusive socio-cultural environment. The Foundation also implements its own projects ("Special view", Cultural platform ART WINDOW, "with confidence in the future", "Class from the Maestro"). It was with the support of the Foundation that the cultural exchange between the Tretyakov gallery and the Vatican Museums took place in 2018. The Vatican Museums have exhibited famous works from the series " Russian way. From Dionysius to Malevich." And in the Tretyakov gallery were shown the masterpieces of the Vatican picture gallery. Most recently, the world premiere of the film by the outstanding Russian Director A. Konchalovsky "Sin" was held, which was created with the financial support of the Foundation, and Alisher Usmanov personally acted as a producer.

Andrei Tarkovsky A special prize is dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the film "Stalker" directed by Andrey Tarkovsky. Andrey Tarkovsky, Jr.-popularizer of the genius father's work, head of the Tarkovsky Foundation in Florence.

Andris Liepa People's artist of Russia, ballet soloist, theatre director and producer

For eight years of work in the Bolshoi company Andris Liepa danced leading roles in the ballets "Nutcracker", "Sleeping beauty", "Giselle", "Ivan the Terrible", "Golden age", "Raymond", "Swan lake". He danced at the Teatro Alla Scala with Carla Fracci, the Paris Opera with Isabelle Guérin, worked with Maurice Béjart in Lausanne. He used to be a guest soloist at the Roman Opera, Swedish Opera and other renowned ballet companies.
The charitable Foundation named after Maris Liepa under the direction of Andris and his sister, Ilze Liepa, preserves and develops the traditions of Russian ballet.

Elisabeth Cheauré Professor, doctor of science

Elizabeth Cheauré is the founder and organizer of the Marina Tsvetaeva Center for Russian culture in Freiburg (Germany). She heads the Department of Slavic literature of the University, being an honorary doctor of RSUH (Moscow) and honorary Professor of Tver State University (for services in the field of Russian-German cultural and scientific relations). Under the leadership of Elizabeth Cheauré a large number of events related to Russia in the cultural and social aspects took place. She is also an author of several books on Russian culture and literature and is currently writing a book on Russian traditions in Freiburg.

Guzel Yakhina Writer

Guzel Yakhina is a winner of the Big Book and Yasnaya Polyana awards (2015) and an author of novels "Zuleikha opens her eyes" and "My Children".
The novel "Zuleikha opens her eyes" is published in 30 languages. In 2017, the French version of the novel was nominated for the Medici award and received the Transfuge award for "Best foreign novel".
G. Yakhina became the author of the" Total dictation " in 2018. She wrote three texts for different time zones, called "Morning", "Day" and "Evening", which were later included in the novel "My Children".
Currently the film based on the novel "Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes" is being shot. The film will contain several series and star Chulpan Khamatova.

Sergey Choban Architect, artist, honorary academician of the Russian Academy of arts and the Union of German architects (BDA)

Sergei Tchoban is an author of more than 40 buildings in various cities of Russia, Germany, Italy, many of which have been awarded prestigious international awards. He is a winner of the European architectural award (European Prize for Architecture) 2018. Sergei Tchoban was a curator of the Russian pavilion at the Venice architecture Biennale (twice: in 2010 and 2012). In 2012, he received the first award in the history of Russia at the architectural Biennale – a special jury prize.

Sergey Krylov Musician

He began learning to play the violin at the age of five. At the age of 6 he gave his first concert. At the age of 18, the musician won the first prize at the international competition named after Rodolfo Lipizer in Gorizia (Italy), then began studying with Salvatore Accardo at the Academy "Walter Stauffer". The young violinist became widely known after he was awarded the first prize at the competition named after Antonio Stradivari in Cremona and first prize at the prestigious Fritz Kreisler competition in Vienna.
M. Rostropovich wrote about hum: "Sergei Krylov is one of the five best contemporary violinists in the world."

Silvia Burini Professor, honorary member of the Russian Academy of arts, laureate of the President of the Russian Federation

S. Burini is a professor of history of Russian art and contemporary art at the University of Venice. She ia also a director of the Center for cultural studies of Russia (CSAR) in Venice. Over the years Silvia Burini has curated numerous exhibitions devoted to Russian art and events that introduce Russian cinema to the public. She is a specialist and author of publications in the field of Slavistics, Russian art and semiotics of culture.
At the moment Silvia Burini is engaged in social realism, the Moscow underground of 1960 – 1970 and works on the book about hybrids and monsters in modern Russian art.

Carlo Feltrinelli Book publisher
Special prize «60th anniversary of the first edition of the novel «Doctor Zhivago»

The special prize of the festival, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the first edition of the novel «Doctor Zhivago», was given to Carlo Feltrinelli. It was his publishing house that in November 1957 released the novel for the first time. After that, in just two years, the novel was translated into 24 languages.

Conrad Fuhrmann Representative of the European Commission, Head of the Turgenev Society of Belgium and Luxembourg
Nomination «For the promotion of the Russian culture in the field of pubic activity»

He was born in 1957 in Gottingen, Germany. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Tubingen State University. After the university, he worked as a teacher, translator and journalist.
Konrad learnt Russian to read Pushkin, Turgenev and Tolstoy without translation. He is fluent in ten languages.
He works in the European Commission in Brussels. He heads the department responsible for managing translations of various texts, including Russian literature.

Ekaterina Mechetina Pianist, soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic and a laureate of the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation.

Ekaterina started playing at the age of four and first performed on stage at the age of five. At the age of ten, she had her first solo concert. Today Ekaterina performs with the best orchestras of Russia and Europe. For all the time of her concert activity, she has performed in 40 countries around the world. Among the conductors with whom the pianist performed are Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, Pavel Kogan and many others. In 2011, she became a member of the Council for Culture and Art under the President of the Russian Federation. In 2012, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin.

Evgeny Vodolazkin Writer, literary critic, Doctor of Philology
Nomination «For promoting the Russian culture in the world in the field of literature»

He was born in 1964 in Kiev. He graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philology of Kiev State University. After defending his thesis under the guidance of Dmitry Likhachev, he studied Ancient Russian literature at the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
He is the author of the novels "Laurus" and "Aviator".
Now, his books have been published in 19 languages.
He is the winner of two awards of Bolshaya kniga and the Yasnaya Polyana [Rus: Clear glade] Prize and has also been honored with many international literary awards.

Valery Koshlyakov Russian painter
Nomination «For popularizing the Russian culture in the world in the the field of fine arts»

Participant of the 25th Biennale in Sao Paulo in 2002. He represented Russia at the Venice Biennale in 2003, participated in the exhibition Russia! in the New York Museum of Modern Art.
He often uses non-traditional materials - from corrugated packaging paperboard to scotch tape - in his works. The paintings impress with their courage of expression and ingenuity.
The artist's works were exhibited and are in the collections of the largest museums in the world: in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in France, the Louvre Museum, in the museums of the US, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
He is among the TOP5 in rating for auction results of contemporary Russian artists.

Vittorio Strada Literary critic, translator-slavist and historian
Nomination «For the promotion of the Russian culture in the field of translation activity»

He was born in 1929 in Milan. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Milan, in 1958 he entered the postgraduate course of Moscow State University.
At the age of 26, he translated the story of Nekrasov "In his Native City" into Italian. At the same time he published articles on "Thaw" Period in Literature. He ran Russian Language and Literature Department at the University of Venice for more than 20 years.
He published the international magazine Russia in Italy . He hosted a lot of Italian-Russian exhibitions and conferences. He was the Director of the Italian Institute of Culture (The Istituto Italiano di Cultura) in Moscow. As a teacher, he retired in 2003, but he still continues to carry out translation work.