Fall 2009

16^th Festival took place in Boston from October 27th through November 15th. The festival featured representatives of prestigious artistic and educational institutions of St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia: St. Petersburg Radio, St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg Conservatory, as well as four librarians from the Children's Libraries of the Frunzensky District in St. Petersburg.  Additionally, three young Russian musicians participated in this festival−Alexey Stadler, a cellist from St. Petersburg, Peter Lundstrem, a violinist from Moscow, and Aiman Baymuldina, a pianist from Moscow.

Festival highlights include concerts of classical music performed by acclaimed St. Petersburg pianist Igor Uriash and by the three young musicians, multi-media presentations by librarians Olga Buslaeva, Yulia Kushchenko, Olga Sidorova, and Tatiana Glavatskaya, lectures by Elena Kiyko, Chief Editor of Cultural Programs at the St. Petersburg Radio, as well as a musical evening at the private residence of Dr. John Silber, President Emeritus of Boston University.

The educational institutions that hosted the festivals events and participants ranged from Brookline public schools to universities such as Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Brandeis, NEC and Boston University. All programs of the Festival were free and open to the public.