The National Guard Ensemble directed by Victor Eliseev performed in China

The Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, directed by Viktor Eliseev, Vice President of the Council of Russian Organization for Intellectual Property (VOIS), performed in Beijing with “Evening in Heihe” concert dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the People’s Republic of China. The event was held at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center of the Beijing Bolshoi Theater.

The concert was held with the assistance of the China People’s Association for friendship with foreign countries (KNODZ), the Society of Chinese-Russian friendship and the Administration of the city of Heihe (north-eastern Heilongjiang Province), bordering Russia.

As noted by the Artistic Director of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, Major General Viktor Eliseev, over the past 20 years, the Chinese public has been increasingly interested in professional music bands from Russia.

“We often come to China and every time we admire the people here, we are surprised at the people’s success, progress, energy and love for their country. Over the past 20 years, the audience has completely changed, it used to be like this: an explosion of applause … and silence. Now the audience is so liberated and vigorously expresses their emotions that it “affects” us,” said Victor Eliseev after the performance of his band in Beijing. According to him, “this time there was a real performance: the audience and the band complemented each other.”

Victor Eliseev emphasized that the concert in Beijing coincided with the anniversary date of friendship between sister-cities – Blagoveshchensk in Russian and Heihe in China. “This is a very important benchmark in strengthening our relations,” he said.

According to representatives of the Chinese public, the performance of the ensemble from Russia “expressed the essence of Chinese-Russian friendly relations, demonstrated the depth of mutual understanding between the peoples of China and Russia.”

Russian artists performed “Home with Victory”, “Along the St. Petersburg Street”, “Oh, Kalina is blooming”, “Hey, uhnem”, “Black eyes”, “Kalinka”. After that, the ensemble together with Chinese musicians performed “Song of the Yangtze River”, “My Homeland”, “Moscow Nights”.

The Russian National Guard Ensemble was created in 1973 and inherited the best traditions of Soviet art of army song and dance. It consists of more than 100 artists, including a male choir, a dance group, an orchestra, soloists, and a children’s ensemble. Since 1995, the ensemble has visited China more than 15 times and has earned wide popularity among the Chinese public.