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A little bit of Russia comes to Kalamazoo

Nov. 1, 2007

KALAMAZOO--The Kalamazoo Russian Festival, which annually attracts visitors from throughout the Midwest, will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10, on the campus of Western Michigan University.

A Gala Concert, with folk dancing and musical performances by a number of groups from Russia and Washington, D.C., opens the 12th annual festival at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall.

The festival proper is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in the Fetzer Center, with activities scheduled in Kirsch and Putney auditoriums and elsewhere throughout the center. A "Russian Meal" will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday's events include performances of a Russian fairytale, "Kolobok," by the renowned Detroit Puppet Theatre; folksongs by the popular Golosa Choir from the University of Chicago; and folk dances and songs by visitors from the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Cherepovetz, Russia.

A complete schedule of Saturday's activities is available at www.russianfestival.org. Listed below are the program schedules for Kirsch and Putney auditoriums.

Kirsch Auditorium programs

10:30 a.m. - Bread and Salt Ceremony and introduction of guests from Russia and from the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

11 a.m. - Performance by students of the Russian Embassy School.

1 p.m. - Performance by students of the Cherepovets Music Academy.

2 p.m. - Performance by the Golosa Choir of the University of Chicago.

3 p.m. - Performance by jugglers Denis Kinjebaev and Jenya Sokolov.

Putney Auditorium programs

11 a.m. - Lecture, "Pushkin's poem 'The Bronze Horseman,'" Scott Friesner, WMU English faculty member.

Noon - Lecture, "The Many Faces of Baba Yaga: Russia's Enigmatic Witch," Judith Rypma, WMU English faculty member.

1 p.m. - Lecture, "St. Serafin of Sarov and the Imperial Family," Dr. John Norman, WMU associate professor of history.

2 p.m. - Reading of her poems about Russia, Judith Rypma, WMU English faculty member.

3 p.m. - Viola concert, Igor Fedotov, WMU associate professor of music.

Tickets and information

Tickets for the Friday concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students and include free entry to the Saturday festival activities. Tickets for the Saturday festival only are $8 for adults and $4 for students and children.

The Kalamazoo Russian Festival is sponsored by the Kalamazoo-Pushkin Partnership and by several several offices and academic departments of WMU, which serves as the annual home for the festival.

For program event times and general festival information visit www.russianfestival.org or contact Jerolyn Selkirk at jselkirk@russianfestival.org.

Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu

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