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Two-city venue for 2015 Tchaikovsky international music contest

MOSCOW, January 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's acclaimed international Tchaikovsky music contest will be staged in two cities in 2015, opening on June 15 and running until July 2 of that year.

Organisers are dividing the event into two categories: Moscow for vocalists and violinists, and the northern capital, St. Petersburg, staging pianists and cellists.

The competition will be the 15th since it was launched on a four-year rotation by Russia's government and its culture ministry for just the piano and the violin in 1958. The programme was extended to include cellists in 1962. A vocal section was added in 1966.

The 2015 event will be structured into the five categories of piano, violin, cello and male and female vocal, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets on Tuesday, chair of the organising committee.

It is "one of the most remarkable music festivals in the world,” Golodets said of an event named after composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, noting the importance of conducting the festival at the highest professional level.

"Development of the music community depends on how well the festival is organised," she said.

Director of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre Valery Gergiev broke news of the two-venue decision taken just days ago as plans evolve for an event "tasked to draw outstanding musicians from the whole world, rather than from Russia only, to the jury.”

“I believe the Tchaikovsky competition is the greatest and most prestigious festival in the world. Our activities should be particularly well-considered," he said.

Gifted musicians have built the competition's status over the years, and the careers of talented artists such as Vladimir Krainev, Mikhail Pletnev, Denis Matsuyev, Elena Obraztsova and Tamara Sinyavskaya.

Leading names among Russia's musical elite are assembling the programme for next year - including Culture Minister Vladimir Medynsky, Mariinsky Theatre's Gergiev, Chief Conductor of Novaya Rossiya State Symphony Orchestra Yuri Bashmet, Chairman of the Ministry of Culture's Public Council Denis Matsuyev, Rector of Moscow Conservatoire Alexander Sokolov and the Bolshoi Theatre's Director General, Vladimir Urin.