Opinions & Interviews

Ambassador: Cultural contacts play a special role in Belarus-Israel relations

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MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – Cultural contacts play a special role in the relations between Belarus and Israel, Belarus’ Ambassador to Israel Vladimir Skvortsov said at a ceremony held on 5 April to award the winners of the international festival contest Music of the World, BelTA learned from the Belarusian diplomatic mission. 

 Taking part in the contest which was held in Jerusalem were musicians, aged 6-36, from Australia, Belarus, Germany, Israel, China, Moldova, Russia, Poland, and Singapore. The contest was initiated by Israel’s Titora Institute of Art Development led by alumnus of the Belarusian State Academy of Music Eli Raikhlin.

Diploma 1st Degree in the fortepiano nomination went to Belarus’ representative, concertmaster of the Belarusian State Academy of Music Olga Popova. Chinese students studying in the Belarusian university also won awards in vocal and string instruments.

"Such international contests are of great importance not only for discovering new talents and popularizing classical music but also for establishing and expanding friendly ties between young representatives of different countries as part of cultural dialogue,” the diplomat said.

Vladimir Skvortsov emphasized the centuries-old history of good-neighborliness between Belarusians and Jews. “The Belarusian land has given the world such outstanding Jewish cultural figures as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language, Hollywood founder Lazar Meir, artists Marc Chagall and Haim Soutine, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov,” the ambassador said.

Organzier of the festival-contest, pianist and conductor Eli Raikhlin was awarded a diploma of the Belarusian embassy in Israel in recognition of his contribution to the development of bilateral cultural relations.

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