The International Military Music Festival "Spasskaya Tower" will be held from August 22 to 31 on Red Square for the 17th time. In an interview with TASS, the head of the festival's Directorate, Sergey Smirnov, revealed the nuances of preparation and programming, introduced foreign participants, and also talked about how the main Russian musical festival military tattoo might change in the future.
— Sergey Nikolaevich, the Spasskaya Tower will be held for the 17th time this year. Can you tell us about the specifics of this year's training?
— The preparation went on as usual. By and large, little has changed in recent years, including sanctions and the situation on Russia's external perimeter. But despite all the problems, we managed to create a good program. By tradition, the best military bands of the Russian law enforcement agencies will be presented at the Spasskaya Tower. In addition, with few exceptions, all sides of the world will take part in the festival — the countries of Africa, the Arab world, the East and even Europe. In 2025, 18 of the best Russian bands will perform on the cobblestones of Red Square. Orchestras from nine foreign countries will also be represented. We are sure that the festival will succeed and the program will be interesting.
— After a pause, European participants were announced in the festival program — representatives of Italy and Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina). What influenced the Europeans' decision to perform in Russia, and did relations warm up?
— In terms of human and friendly relations with the French, British, Italians, and so on, practically nothing has changed. I would say that it is rather a kind of national diplomacy. I can't say that it took us a long time to persuade the Italians and offer them some bonuses. None of this happened. We have already shown the ensemble of historical flag bearers of the city of Kori in Moscow at the Spasskaya Tower in 2011 and 2014. The team responded to our offer to come without any problems, complicated persuasions and maneuvers.
As for the Police Orchestra of the Republika Srpska Ministry of the Interior, we also invited it, but we got the agreement almost immediately. The band is small, but very sonorous, likeable and pleasant musically. That's why it's all about good human relationships. God forbid that they become decisive in global relations between states. Because everything has been preserved at this level — all the sympathies, positive reviews and memories of the festival of those musicians who participated in the Spasskaya Tower in previous years. I hope that gradually all this will be restored and improved.
— How does the organizing committee of the Spasskaya Tower select foreign participants of the festival?
— Everything is trivial. There is only one limitation — the duration of the presentation. For obvious reasons, Russian bands always prevail, because we want above all to promote the work of our military musicians. There is a strict rule — no more than six minutes per performance. Over the 17 years of the festival, we have accumulated a lot of experience. We know that at this time of the year our audience can withstand a maximum of 2.5 hours, and the weather is not always conducive. Therefore, there remains a certain time lag, which is distributed among foreign teams. Traditionally, we have seven or eight seats for foreigners. But this year there will be nine foreign orchestras.
In addition, the festival organizing committee almost always has applications from foreign orchestras that have not been completed since previous years. There are also bands that we would like to show Moscow, which we are literally hunting for and queuing for. This is how the composition of the festival's participants is being formed, and it is an ongoing process. Let's say that high-ranking officials from several countries will come to the capital this year to discuss the possibility of their teams participating in the Spasskaya Tower 2026.
And, of course, an important factor in choosing teams is the geographical representation of the world.
In the history of the festival, about 60 countries have participated in it, and if we take the total number of bands, it has long exceeded two hundred.
— Which of the foreign teams is of the greatest interest this year?
— I am interested in all the teams that will come to Moscow. First of all, these are our friends from Belarus and Kazakhstan, very interesting and professional teams. I'm sure they will resonate with the audience. Africa will be represented by Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The Arab world is a team from the UAE, gorgeous, very worthy musicians. The Serbian band, as I said, is small, but very noisy, cheerful and musical. Mongolia will be represented by a large group that can be compared to the Russian Alexandrov ensemble. This is a very professional ensemble with a long tradition.
And finally, the historical flag bearers of the Italian city of Cori are a bright and beautiful sight. I think the program turned out to be balanced and will be very interesting to the audience. And, most importantly, almost all of these bands will perform at the festival for the first time. The Spasskaya Tower never repeats itself, it's always something new and original. I hope that this year we will be able to surprise and please the audience.
— How does the organizing committee of the festival participate in the process of training foreign orchestras, from programming to traveling to Russia?
— First of all, we work closely and rely on the help and support of the Presidential Administration, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Defense Ministry, and, of course, the government and the mayor of Moscow. This includes administrative assistance in organizing and conducting both the festival itself and its individual events, as well as visa and logistical support. Without their help, we would not have been able to bring a foreign military contingent to the capital. They are always very responsive to all our problems and always help us solve them. The Russian Ministry of Defense also plays a key role in shaping the program. Major General Timofey Mayakin, head of the Military Orchestra Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and musical director of the Spasskaya Tower, holds a competition among defense department orchestras every two years. In fact, the winners of this competition are fighting for the right to perform at the Spasskaya Tower.
Timofey Konstantinovich regularly pleases us by introducing new stars to the public. This is entirely his merit — Mayakin cultivates these groups, educates and brings them to the audience of the festival. At the same time, the festival administration and the artistic director of the Spasskaya Tower, Sergey Dmitrievich Khlebnikov, never interfere or dictate the musical program to either Russian or foreign bands. They bring us what they consider necessary and important to show on Red Square.
If we talk about foreigners, then our main task is to catch all the numerous "Kalinka—Malinki", "Katyusha" and so on, because almost everything brings these compositions. All this needs to be sorted out, someone needs to be removed, if the team has more compositions by Russian authors in the program, someone needs to be left. We no longer interfere with the music program in any way. Further, the Russian Foreign Ministry plays an extremely important role in the preparation process. They help with sending official invitations to participants, and provide visa support through the Consular Department. Thanks to their well-coordinated work, we are able to receive teams from various countries without organizational delays.
— Spasskaya Tower is one of the oldest and most famous military music festivals in the world. Have you noticed that our festival is being imitated abroad, or that any successful finds are being borrowed?
- of course. For example, we have a joint orchestra performance in the final. I suddenly noticed that many foreign festivals began to end in the same way. As for European festivals, I have noted that there is more and more folklore and less and less military music. It is difficult to say what this is related to. But this is in no way an imitation of us, since the Spasskaya Tower has always sought to show primarily military, ceremonial groups, as well as various kinds of guards. Of course, we reserved some space for folklore groups, but they never prevailed in the programs. But in Europe, the process went the other way around. In any case, if you don't have your own ideas, we are ready to share them.
— The festival has a long tradition of presenting musical surprises and gifts to the audience. What should we prepare for this year?
— Thanks to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, which helped organize this year's performance of the leading soloists of the Russian opera scene during the performances of the Spasskaya Tower. They will be different opera stars on different days. I hope their participation will be a kind of highlight of the festival.
— The festival will be held in the year of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War - this is one of the semantic dominants of the Spasskaya Tower. The second key topic is defenders of the Fatherland. How will these topics be displayed in the program?
— Without a doubt, we could not ignore the theme of the 80th anniversary of Victory, it will be reflected in the prologue of the festival, and in all the programs that the teams have prepared. The theme of defenders of the Fatherland will also be reflected in the programs of the Russian participants of the Spasskaya Tower.
— The Spasskaya Tower has been held since 2007, for the 17th time. You said earlier that the festival has not changed globally since its inception. But are you discussing the possibility of changes in the future?
— We think a lot about this topic, because any stability is always the beginning of the end. The great second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system tends to infinity. If something is clamped down, closed to some extent, sooner or later the system will tend to endless chaos, to disintegration. To prevent this from happening, the process must be managed as much as possible. Therefore, first of all, we would like to expand the geography of the festival, filling it with more original, interesting and unusual groups.
Secondly, we would like and strive in every possible way to ensure that when creating a program, the audience naturally rejuvenates.
And, of course, there are a lot of prospects in terms of increasing entertainment. Once upon a time, we held laser shows, fireworks, and made pyrotechnic and lighting installations. Today, for obvious reasons, we cannot do all this within the framework of the performances on Red Square. Nevertheless, there are developments and understandings that could be added to the Spasskaya Tower program to increase its attractiveness and entertainment. You can't stand still.
— Sergey Nikolaevich, the program of the Spasskaya Tower Festival is not limited to evening performances. Please tell us about the most interesting events of this year.
— There are quite a lot of such events. First of all, on August 23, all the foreign participants of the festival will perform at VDNH. There will be a traditional march of bands and a concert on Peoples' Friendship Square. We invite everyone — admission is free, starting at 12:00. On August 24, all foreign bands will perform in nine parks in Moscow. Information about which band and in which park will perform can be viewed on our website. spasstower.ru . In addition, short concerts by foreign participants will be held on Manezhnaya Square every day during the daytime.
Also, as part of the Spasskaya Tower, one of my favorite and perhaps most touching events will take place on Red Square from August 25 to 27 — the final of the Spasskaya Tower for Children festival of brass bands. The festival will last three days in a row, admission is free — welcome, the spectacle is super-durable.
Finally, a large outdoor performance within the framework of the festival will be held on August 30 on Cathedral Square in front of the Main Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Patriot Park. Admission is also free. This is a very difficult event from the point of view of logistics and organization, but it is very beautiful.
— Can I tell you about the work on strengthening security measures during the festival this year?
— In matters of security, first of all, we need to thank the Main Directorate of the Moscow Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the leadership of the National Guard, the FSB and the Federal Security Service of Russia, who ensure security at all festival events without exception. All these agencies, including the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, are doing everything possible to ensure that the festival is held normally without any misunderstandings and excesses. I hope that this year everything will be calm, and the mood in the stands will be only festive.
— The Spasskaya Tower Festival is called the festival of music and light. Why is it so important to hold the country's main military music festival on Red Square right now, in these difficult days for Russia?
— First of all, it demonstrates our calmness and strength. And the holding of the Spasskaya Tower Festival clearly confirms that Russia has many friends and good partners, because the main idea of the festival is a constant intercultural dialogue based on the principles of partnership, good neighborliness, mutual respect, where nationality and religion do not matter. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov noted in his address: "It is difficult to overestimate the role of the Spasskaya Tower Festival in international humanitarian exchange in maintaining an atmosphere of friendship, trust and mutual understanding between peoples."
— What else would you like to say for yourself?
— Of course, I would like to say a huge thank you to the Moscow audience. The guests present at the stands of the Spasskaya Tower Festival are the best audience. Such a warm welcome, which is given to the performing groups on Red Square, is worth a lot. Thank you to the audience and, of course, we are waiting for everyone at the festival.
Ekaterina Adamova
