World First: Paganini Competition Winners Perform Together on the Same Stage in Unique Moscow Concert

World First: Paganini Competition Winners Perform Together on the Same Stage in Unique Moscow Concert

MOSCOW, October 27/PRNewswire/ -- The Investment Program Foundation, chaired by Mr. Maxim Viktorov, the
renowned violin collector and art philanthropist, is delighted to announce a
unique concert of previous winners of the Moscow International Violin
Paganini Competition, one of the world's most important and prestigious
international music competitions.

The concert will take place this evening in the Grand Hall of the Moscow
State Conservatory to coincide with the 226th birthday of Niccolo Paganini.

A violin once owned by Niccolo Paganini will be played at the concert.
"Ex-Paganini" created by Carlo Benzoni was acquired by Mr. Maxim Viktorov at
Sotheby's on November 1, 2005.

The world-class violinists taking part in this evening's concert are Ivan
Pochekin, Nadir Khashimov, Eugen Tichindeleanu, Lena Semenova, Kwun Hyuk Joo,
Daniil Austrich, Rodion Petrov, Olga Volkova, Antal Szalai and Alena Baeva.

They will be accompanied by Paul Kogan's Moscow National Academic
Symphony Orchestra and will perform compositions by Paganini, Vaksman,
Chausson, Vieuxtemps, Hachaturyan, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Sen-Sans and Milhaud.
The Orchestra will be conducted by Gintaras Rinkjavichus.

The concert starts at 19.00 pm.

Notes to Editors:

About the Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition

The Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition is organized by the
Investment Program Foundation, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Mass
Communications of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow and
Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. The competition became a major
cultural event in Moscow from 2003, the year of its creation. The Competition
is known for the master level of the musicians and impartial refereeing of an
eminent jury.

In five years since its inception, the Competition has attained
international fame as one of the world's most prestigious violin competitions
and is recognized as a respected musical forum.

Participants from more than 20 countries, including Belarus, Hungary,
United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Georgia, Iran, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, China,
Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, USA, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, France, Czech
Republic, Japan and South Korea have taken part in this event.

The international jury has included Ida Gendel (the United Kingdom), Ivry
Gitlis (France), Michael Schwalbe (France), Boris Belkin (Belgium), Eduard
Grach (Russia), Tatyana Grindenko (Russia), Giya Kancheli (Georgia), Michaela
Martin (Germany), Maxim Fedotov (Russia), Julian Rachlin (Austria), Itzhak
Rashkovsky (Israel), Alexander Rudin (Russia), Dmitriy Sitkovetsky (United
Kingdom), Saulius Sondeckis (Lithuania), Sergey Stadler (Russia), Viktor
Tretyakov (Russia), Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), Nachum Erlich (Israel).

As agreed by the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, the competition
will be held every three years. The Sixth competition will be held in Moscow
in 2010.

According to Competition results, winners will be awarded with laureate
diplomas and the following prizes:

<start_table

- 1st prize - $50,000 and a statuette of Paganini holding a violin;

- 2nd prize - $30 000

- 3rd prize - $15 000

Contact: Alya Shakir at FD. Alya.shakir@fd.com or +44(0)207-269-7256
-------
Profile: intent