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Festival director says Princess Anne of Edinburgh predicted success of Spasskaya Tower

The festival to be held this year from August 26 to September 4 on Moscow’s Red Square

Sergey Khlebnikov Directorate of the Spasskaya Tower Festival

Sergey Khlebnikov

© Directorate of the Spasskaya Tower Festival

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Princess Anne of Edinburgh predicted great success for the Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival when it was only at the idea level, Sergey Khlebnikov, the festival’s artistic director, told TASS in an interview.

In 2006, Khlebnikov visited the famous Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo to get experience in order to later create a similar festival in Russia. "Princess Anne (Anne of Edinburgh patronizes the event - TASS) asked me what the purpose of my visit was, and I replied that I had come to study the experience of an international music festival. And she told me that we will succeed, because we have a beautiful stage and surroundings: the Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral. Visiting Moscow and the Kremlin had a strong effect on her. Her prophecy came true," the artistic director said.

The Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival traces its history back to 2006, when for the first time the performance of units of honor guarding heads of state accompanied by famous military orchestras was held in Moscow, on the Poklonnaya Hill. In 2009, the festival received its name, the Spasskaya Tower, and now it is held annually on the Red Square.

Bands from Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, Egypt, India, and Thailand will take part in the 15th Anniversary Spasskaya Tower International Military Music Festival.

The festival will be held this year from August 26 to September 4 on Moscow’s Red Square. TASS serves as the event’s official information partner.

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