There are two events coming up in the region that showcase Russian history, arts, music and culture. On Monday 18th March at 20:00 the Cinè Club of Nyon will show their last film of the season, a Russian film called ‘Kukushka’. Then on Friday22 and Saturday 23 March, "Ivan the Terrible’ by Sergei Prokofiev will be performed at the Grand Théâtrè in Genenva. More details of both the film and the Prokofiev performance below.
Present on Monday evening at the Nyon cinema will be the Consul Géneral of the Russian Federation - Mr. Yuri Gloukhov. Mr Gloukhov will make a short introduction about the film to the audience before it is screened and will also host a reception after the film that will include a taste of Russian vodka!
Trish Thalman, a contributing writer to Living in Nyon (she has reviewed many films from the Visions du Réel film festival) went to interview Mr Gloukhov to find out a little about the Consul himself and about the Russian community living in the area (both past and present).
Mr Gloukhov is a member of the Russian Federation Diplomatic Service. Originally from Moscow, he has served with missions in Mauritius, Belgium, spent time in New York and has been in Geneva for two and half years. He is fluent in French and English. He greatly appreciates living in Geneva, for the natural beauty of the region with easy access to the outdoor life and splendid mountains. A great fan of opera, he is also interested in Baroque and Italian classical music.
Geneva has welcomed a Russian community since the mid-1800’s, the time of Czarist Russia. The people who arrived were mostly of nobility and or wealth, and could afford to visit Switzerland as tourists for extended periods of time. They also came to study. At the end of the 1800’s, women and Jews in Russia did not have access to higher education so many came to study in Geneva and Lausanne, and some stayed in the region. Fyodor Dostoyevsky lived in Geneva in 1867. He and his wife had a daughter Sofia who was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church with the ‘golden onion towers’, but she died at three months old. She is buried in Geneva. Lenin studied at the University of Geneva and returned to Russia as the Russian Revolution began in 1917.
With the end of the Soviet Union, Russians began to have more open opportunities to travel and live in other countries. Geneva and Canton Vaud, along with the rest of Swiss Romande, have around 5000 permanent Russian residents living in the region.
Geneva recorded nearly 30,000 Russian visitors during the year in 2012, and especially during the Russian Spring Holiday from 1 – 9 May. The visitors come from the major cities as well as lesser-known regions of Russia. Many Russians come to Geneva for business, study and research. A number of the International Schools with boarding facilities in the region have seen an increase of a young Russian student population.
The Great Russian artists, past and present, are well represented and embraced by people of the Geneva area through art, theatre, dance, music and literature.
Mr. Gloukhov is interested in the film ‘Kukushka’ as an opportunity to present one aspect of Russian culture, which has a great history of filmmaking. It is also the first time the Consul General will welcome the Swiss, Russian and International film-loving community from the Nyon and La Côte region.
- A humorous and poignant film, it allows the viewers to see how war ultimately “falls upon the shoulders of every-day people” who live with the decisions made at the highest levels of government. The Russian filmmaker, Aleksandr Rogozhkin presents a view of ‘everyman’ during the 2
World War.
See trailer of Kukushka film here
an oratorio by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) at the Grand Théâtre, Geneva Friday, 22
and Saturday 23
March, 2013 Conductor: Ferran Gili-Millera Tickets: CHF 15 and 20 from Ticket Office of the Grand Théâtre, This major oratorio about the first Tsar of Russia is dynamic, dramatic and grandiose. Several local choirs have combined to form a chorus of 300 singers. They will accompany a mezzo-soprano soloist and a bass soloist/narrator and an orchestra of 80 musicians, made up of much brass, percussion and timpani. This is a multi-media event, and very suitable for youngsters.