News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) – The presentation of UNESCO’s Five Continents medals to People’s Artists of Belarus and the USSR Igor Luchenok and Valentin Yelizaryev is also a token of appreciation of Belarus’ contribution to the global culture. Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alena Kupchyna made the relevant statement during the award ceremony on 22 April, BelTA has learned.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the event confirms that Belarusian artists are becoming not only a pride of their country but of the entire world. The medals are a token of recognition of their talent as great cultural figures, their contribution to Belarusian culture and the global cultural space.

Igor Luchenok and Valentin Yelizaryev are representatives of the stellar talent of their nation, added Pavel Latushko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to France, Belarus’ resident representative in UNESCO. It is symbolical that in the Year of Culture declared in Belarus the most influential organization in humanitarian affairs has chosen to pay a tribute to these prominent Belarusians. Choreography and Belarusian ballet school are known all over the world thanks to Valentin Yelizaryev while songs by Igor Luchenok are sung in all the five continents, said Pavel Latushko.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova decided to award Igor Luchenok and Valentin Yelizaryev for their outstanding contribution to the development of international cultural cooperation on 21 March. The two Belarusians were also awarded diplomas on behalf of the UNESCO head. The solemn award ceremony took place in the Belarusian State Music Academy. The venue was not chosen by accident. The artistic careers of Igor Luchenok and Valentin Yelizaryev are inextricably connected with the academy since Igor Luchenok is a graduate of the academy and worked as its reactor in the 1980s and Valentin Yelizaryev has been a professor at the academy since 1995.

Valentin Yelizaryev has directed the National Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theater of Belarus for more than thirty years. He has won multiple awards. In 1993 he was awarded the grand prix for choreography during the 7^th International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1993. His production of the Passions (Rogneda) ballet has won multiple awards, including a state prize of Belarus, a prize of the Belarusian Union of Theater Workers, and a Benois de la Danse Prix of the International Dance Competition under the UNESCO aegis. In 1997 for his great personal contribution to the establishment and development of Belarusian ballet he was awarded an Order of Frantsisk Skorina. Valentin Yelizaryev received the Belarus president’s special award for choreographic art in 2001 and an Order of Fatherland, 3^rd Degree in 2003.

Igor Luchenok began his artistic career in the 1960s. His best song lyrics include Alesya, Veronika, Verasy, and other ones. The classic songs about the Great Patriotic War include If the Stones Could Talk…, Waltz in May, A Letter from 1945, and Khatyn’s Nightingales. Igor Luchenok has earned his place in the history of modern art not only as an excellent composer but a musician, a pedagogue, and a public figure. In 1982-1986 he worked as the rector of the Belarusian State Conservatory. Igor Luchenok has been the head of the Belarusian Union of Composers since 1980. Igor Luchenok is a People’s Artist of Belarus, a USSR People’s Artist, a laureate of the State Prize of Belarus and a special prize of the Belarus president. He has been awarded an Order of the Badge of Honor, an Order of the Friendship of Peoples, and an Order of Frantsisk Skorina. A star in his name has been placed in the Square of Stars in Moscow.

The UNESCO’s Five Continents Medal was instituted in 1996 in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the organization’s creation. The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus was awarded a Five Continents Medal in 2014.