Kazan 2013 Ceremonies will be unlike any other ever staged before!

KAZAN – The first session of the Organising Committee for the Kazan 2013 Opening/Closing Ceremonies took place in the Kazan City Hall on June 6th. The meeting was dedicated to the Opening Ceremony of the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade.

The first meeting of the Organising Committee for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies of the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade took place on June 6th in the Kazan City Hall. The session chaired by OC Chair Ilsur Metshin saw the presence of Igor Sivov, Deputy Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate and Kazan 2013 Ceremonies Executive Director; Alexey Sechenov, Artistic Director of the Kazan 2013 Ceremonies, representatives of ministries and departments of the republic, as well as heads of Tatarstan’s municipal districts.

«Like the theatre begins with a hanger, the Universiade begins with the Opening Ceremony, and we need to take the preparation for it very seriously. The ceremony will become the trademark of the Games host nation», said Ilsur Metshin and added that it was for the first time since the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union that the country was given a chance to assert itself on the international scene.

The Mayor called upon the meeting participants to take a serious approach to the Ceremonies’ preparation. To make this work continuous, the OC’s meetings will be held on a monthly basis and later will be held even more frequently.

Igor Sivov delivered a report on the progress of the Kazan 2013 Opening/Closing Ceremonies. He mentioned that the Ceremonies would take place in the 45,000-seat football stadium, the main sports facility of the republic and the largest venue in the Volga Region. Rehearsals of key performances and crowd scenes will start as early as in February 2013 and in June 2013 they will move to the new football stadium. The Ceremonies’ dress rehearsals will kick off on June 27, 2013, with the final rehearsal taking place on June 5th.

According to Igor Sivov, the Ceremonies working group will get stationed in the new football stadium by March 1, 2013 to start equipment installation and assembly for the upcoming events.

Kazan Mayor & OC Chair Ilsur Metshin

The creative team for the art direction of Opening Ceremony event has already embarked on their journey. Igor Krutoy, the People’s Artists of Russia and famous Russian producer, was named as the Ceremonies Organiser during the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Supervisory Board Meeting that took place on December 20, 2011. Alexey Sechenov, a member of the Russian Television Academy and TEFI Award winner, was revealed as the Artistic Director of the Ceremonies. His recent achievement is staging the opening ceremony of the 2011 Asian Winter Games.

According to Alexey Sechenov, the Games organisers have an uneasy task in front of them, they need to introduce the world to the social, historical and cultural heritage of the region. «We solve a large number of questions every day», he said.

One of these questions is how many artists will be involved in the ceremony. According to the data, presented today by Igor Sivov, up to 6,500 people took part in the Shenzhen 2011 Summer Universiade Ceremonies that impressed the world with their size and scope. Ilsur Metshin said that best artists of Tatarstan, including top performers from towns and regions of the republic, must be recruited to put up the shows.

Igor Sivov also informed that selection of the artistic team for the Kazan 2013 Ceremonies – artists for crowd scenes, ballet and circus companies – was already launched as part of the Cultural Universiade. «Bands and artists from Kazan, towns and regions of Tatarstan, as well as federal regions of Russia and CIS countries will take part in the Ceremonies. We cooperate with 45 higher education institutions from 16 regions of Russia, and each of them has talented performers that will contribute to our Ceremonies», Igor Sivov said.

Alexey Sechenov, Artistic Director of the Kazan 2013 Ceremonies

Another challenge that the organizers face is to ensure that the Kazan 2013 Opening/Closing Ceremonies will be unlike any other ever staged before. «We mustn’t repeat any scripts that have already been presented. It regards even ‘wow factors’ of the world’s top shows», the Mayor said.

On June 6th, on the day of the Games opening, the show will run for 4 hours and it must keep the audience’s attention during its entire length. The OC members later met with representatives of Tatarstan’s cultural elite to discuss how a breathtaking show must be prepared and staged to a 45,000 crowd and millions of TV viewers. «We need to hear your opinion, as each of you knows a lot about historical and cultural peculiarities of our homeland. We would like to use your experience to deliver the best presentation of our home city to the world», said Ilsur Metshin in his speech.

The presentation of the new football stadium was also made as part of the Ceremonies OC meeting. Radik Minnakhmetov, Deputy Head of the Main Investment and Construction Department of the Republic of Tatarstan, informed that grass would be installed on the stadium floor only after the Universiade concluded. Before that another flooring, suitable for the Ceremonies, will be laid down.

The territory adjacent to the stadium will be used for the Universiade Park and the stadium itself will include a whole range of entertainment and recreation facilities: a hotel, a restaurant, a yacht club, tennis courts, miniature golf courts, etc. For reference, 1,290 constructors are currently working hard at the construction site to make sure that the stadium will be completed until its deadline, December 2012. Construction operations continue non-stop, day and night.

(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)