MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. The opening ceremony of the 17th International Tchaikovsky Competition took place at the Moscow Conservatory, a TASS correspondent reported.

The competition’s winners from previous years participated in the ceremony, including, among others, pianist Denis Matsuev, operatic soprano Hibla Gerzmava, Chinese pianist and composer Liu Shikun and Mongolian opera singer Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar. Valery Gergiev, co-chairman of the organizing committee of the 17th International Tchaikovsky Competition, took his place at the conductor's stand of the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra.

A total of 236 young talented musicians will take part in the competition, which is being held in Moscow and St. Petersburg between June 19 and July 1. The jury has brought together representatives of 18 countries, including Russia, Belarus, the United States, Japan, China, Belgium and Germany.

"I am sure that the jury members will be completely impartial; we have many veteran masters with enormous experience," Gergiev told reporters.

The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a major event in the world of classical music held every four years. TASS is the general information partner of the competition.