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Japanese official says could not sleep after seeing Giselle ballet at Bolshoi

The Russian Seasons festival opened in Tokyo on June 4 with the Bolshoi Theater’s Giselle ballet

TOKYO, December 10. /TASS/. Head of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, Commissioner Ryohei Miyata, could not fall asleep after he saw the Bolshoi Theater’s Giselle ballet at the opening ceremony of the Russian Seasons festival in Tokyo. On Sunday, he shared the impressions during the festival’s closing ceremony.

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Bolshoi’s leading dancer says Japanese audience adores Russian ballet

"At the Russian Seasons’ opening in Tokyo in June, I saw Giselle by the Bolshoi Theater, and it was so wonderful, that I could not sleep that night," he said.

The closing ceremony was at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Russia’s Deputy Minister of Culture delivered a welcome address, and after the official ceremony the Mariinsky Theater’s Symphonic Orchestra under Valery Gergiev and pianist Denis Matsuev began playing for the Japanese audience Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos No. 3 and 4.

On December 11 and 12, during the Russian Seasons’ closing events, the Japanese audience will see a few animated films, including Cheburashka, which is very popular in Japan.

The Russian Seasons festival opened in Tokyo on June 4 with the Bolshoi Theater’s Giselle ballet. The opening ceremony at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall featured Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets. The festival’s program in 42 cities included about 250 events and attracted the audience of about 3.5 million people.

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