2013 - americanpushkinsociety

November 26th, Tatiana von Zigern Korn, S. Bogolyubov's daughter, the third chairman of Pushkin Society in America, gave us his father's archive. Among the papers - letters of Brazol and Mesnyaev and documents about Pushkin's gymnasium in Regensburg, plans of "Vladimir circles", popular in the years 1950-1960. Tatyana all these years carefully preserved archive. In gratitude, the Board of Directors decided to award her with the Medal of Honor. Tatiana last 20 years has been living on the territory of Novo-Diveevsky Monastery - famous corner of Russian America. Here is an archive and a library. Victoria Kurchenko acquainted with these materials applied to the administration for bringing order to the grave of Dimitriev - sculptor of the first monument to Pushkin in U. S.

November 10th, the ceremony of awarding the winners of the Fifth Olympiad in spoken Russian, organized by Alla Markova and her "Small company" took place. Awards and gifts were given in the form of a theatrical joy and applause are moved by adults and officials as well as by representatives of the panel of judges, which includes many of the Pushkin Society in America. Victoria Kurchenko congratulated everybody on this occasion highlighted the role of education and bilingualism in modern culture.

November 6th, there was the third program "Poetry and Jazz" at the cozy club Zinc. Leading Irina Aks and Edward Schogolev invited this time poet and editor Andrew Gritsman who read his poem "The Wind in the Hudson Valley". As always, "open mic" performed by anyone. A well known writer Eduard Topol said a few words about his film shot on Valery Ponomarev about his game in the frame on the roof of a skyscraper. Maestro had no choice but to please the audience with sounds he draws from his amazing musical instrument - pipe. Then the night concert by a great jazz presented a happy song by the words of the poet Alexander Dolinov. Our congratulations to the author!

October 6th, at the close of the Sixth Festival of Russian documentary films the winner's name was pronounced. Grand Prix was given to Sergei Miroshnichenko for the film " Born in the USSR ."

Commemorative Medal of Pushkin Society in America was presented to Marina Gerstein director of the film "The Second Life. Boston" that attracted attention to the subject of the disclosure of the creative and professional potential of the immigrants on the basis of the development of Russian subculture in foreign countries.

The Board of Directors is committed to maintain the theme of the creative people whose fortunes are tied to the notion of "emigration". The development of Russian culture in foreign countries - this one vector of the tradition that binds us to the history of Russian Americans for decades .

Festival guest legendary singer Willie Tokarev presented his audio CDs to the archive LIAC. Each of his song is a little emigrant history. He wished the Pushkin Society continued success. Studio "Bravo" headed by Eluardom Staroselsky interested in our project dedicated to dissidents. We'll be glad to provide the materials to create new movies.

Julian Lowenfeld, , Victoria Kurchenko, Elena Baksht

October 5th, the Roerich Museum in upper Manhattan hosted a literary-musical evening. Victoria Kurchenko represented long-time friend of Pushkin Society in America Julian Lowenfeld and his new colleague , singer and teacher Elena Baksht. Julian presented the second edition of his book "My mascot" , which has been evaluated at the state level in Russia. The poems of Alexander Pushkin by Julian as always led the excited audience. Professional performance of classical piano works by Elena Baksht, her comments filled the living museum with the extraordinary atmosphere of joyful encounter with art.

October 4th, the 6th festival of documentary films in New York started. We congratulate personally Marina Adamovich, as well as members of our team - Irina Aks, who became part of the organizers of the festival and Aneta Maiman accredited journalist, with the beginning!
The organizer of the festival is Foundation of Princess Diana Bagrationi.
The festival presented 24 documentaries - winners of Russian and International Film Festival 2012 /2013. All films have English caption.

The guests of the Festival were Jon Alpert, an American documentary filmmaker, winner of 15 "Emmy", nominated for "Oscar " (2010 ), Keiko Tsuno - American documentary filmmaker, winner of the "Emmy », Columbia DuPont Award; Sergey Miroshnichenko, winner of the "Emmy ", laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation for Culture , Sergei Hollerbach , academician of the National Academy of Design ( USA), Villi Tokarev, a famous Russian singer , Nikolai Mikhailov, Foundation " Russian World", the director of U.S. programs (Moscow).

September 27-29th, the 11th festival "Blue trolley" took place. A small stage for Poetfest was opened for a contest, read poetry and skit on the script and directing of Irina Aks and Anna Greenberg. In the poet competition Alexander Gabriel took first place, Natalia Reznikthe second place, Irina Aks and Yuri Solodkinthird shared the third one. On the big stage, as always, there were many visitors from different countries, American artists, a children's concert and plenty of entertainment for children and adults. The main advantage of the festival whose president is Alexander Shaikevich was a friendly creative amosfera that presented preservation and development of Russian language on the basis of the phenomenon of bard songs.

September 15th, in a warm friendly atmosphere Poetfest took place in Brooklyn. It was attended by new and regular participants. Our guest from Toronto - Vita Shtivelman represented the club of physicists and poets and amazed everyone with her artistic abilities. Irina Aks - the literary festival director conceived to begin with an introduction to the poetic act. The first round of speeches was called "business card". The circle came not only by authors but also by the guests. Then the theme "home tasks autumn" sounded. There were a presentation of forgotten poets. Among them, the poetess Catherine Kvitnitskoy from Kiev. As always, there were games, discussions and gatherings. Journalist Aneta Maiman had enough time for interview and talk about what is happening to their radio programs "Hope" - "Alliance".

Common folk path to the Pushkin's monument

September 2nd. Our film and archive group traveled to New Jersey, which can rightly be considered the most Pushkin State. In 1941, this is when the first monument to Pushkin was installed in the U.S. by sculptor Dimitrieva, a member of the Pushkin Committee. It turned out that in the mid-1930s here in the town of Jackson was discovered Pushkin House for elderly men with the assistance ROOVA (Russian United Mutual Aid Society of America). We went there and talked to the guests. The House is located on the street Pushkin Road (130 Pushkin Rd, Jackson, NJ 08527) and operates to this day.

September 1st, the working group Pushkin Society of America pay a visit to the the Russian house "Motherland", the State of New Jersey.
Gathering information on the history of Russian emigration and searching articles about events Pushkin anniversary in 1937, we met with Kira Nikolaevna Kuzmin-Polyana, which has the second daughter-chairman of the Pushkin Society - GV Mesnyaeva. Help us in this by his father Valery Lukyanov, Tamara and Dmitry Ivanov. During warm conversation gentlemen Ivanov showed us his own album, keeping the clippings over the years.

August 29th, Natasha Cherny gave a presentation about the archive of the conference pianist and composer Vladimir Drozdov for Pushkin Society of America and Columbia University. Vladimir Drozdov took part in anniversary concert in 1937, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Pushkin's death. Natasha Czerny, his granddaughter, has contributed to the popularization of the works of his grandfather. She shared her memories of childhood, spoke about her parents' friendship with the family of the sculptor Gleb Deryuzhinsky (a member of the Pushkin Society), a joint vocal lessons with Lydia Shalyapina and presented some documents. Inna Grubmayr conducted a recording of the interview.

August 21st, Victoria Kurchenko, Boris Borukaev, Natalia Mizuri and Inna Grubmayr on behalf of Pushkin Society in America welcomed the premiere of the opera "The Magic Mirror" in theater "Flamboyan" (New-York), presented at the New York International Festival "Fringe". The music is by a young and talented composer Pauline Nazaikinskii, director and conductor - Winner of The American Prize and the National Opera Association Prize Lidia Jankowska, assistant director - international pianist Konstantin Suhovitsky. At the heart of the libretto "Magic Mirror" - "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights" of Alexander Pushkin. American audiences perceived the action with interest, familiar to them in the Disney version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." We emphasize - the opera was played in Russian. Members of the public congratulated the musicians and artists with a successful premiere and expressed gratitude for the continuation of the theme of Pushkin in the United States, and discussed possible cooperation in the framework of general art projects.

August 1st, Pushkin Society in America and Poetfest held literary readings in the restaurant "Onegin" in Manhattan.

Before starting the program Victoria Kurchenko made a report on a trip to Pushkin places in Russia organized by the Government of St. Petersburg and the Department of Foreign Economic Relations of the city. This professional training was designed specifically for compatriots living abroad and held on the basis of Pushkin House - Literature Institute of the RAS.

July 11th - a meeting of Victoria Kurchenko with Mr. Nekrasov, director the Pushkin Museum in St. Petersburg.

Sergey thanked our team for the dissemination of information about Pushkin in faraway America, has signed his book for archive and library and agreed to enter into our Community Council.

June 22nd - in a cozy Russian style house of Alla and Mark Belitsky, New York, a poetic and bardic meeting took place. The pictures of the artist Lydia Chepovetskaya decorated atmosphere. The event was conducted by Victoria Kurchenko.

June 8th - in the concert "Pushkin wreath" on the birthday of Pushkin young readers took part. Victoria Perelman on the stage of the Russian House "Homeland" recites the poetry of the great poet.

June 6th, at the restaurant "Onegin" in New York were readings in honor of the birthday of Pushkin.

May 26th, a great and unique event - the opening of the Park of Glory in the New Jersey took place. 28 busts and monuments of Russian history and culture were brought in from Russia. The Monument dedicated to Alexander Pushkin was presented by the president of the Pushkin society in America Victoria Kurchenko and vice-president Boris Borukaev. The monument to Lermontov was presented by Director of Poetfest Edward Schogolev and president of the club "Blue trolley" Alexander Shaikevich.

Edward Shchogolev, Svetlana Semenchuk, Aleksander Shaikevich, Boris Borukaev

Michael Serdyukov and Aleksander Bondarev

There were presented the officials: Deputy Mayor of Howell Mr. Nicastro, Cultural Attache of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in America Pavel Spitsin, Counsellor of the General Consulate of the Russian Federation in New York Anatoly Kargapolov. The non-governmental organizations were presented by Member of the Board of Directors of the Russian House "Homeland" Soledat Bayazitova, a spokesman of the Imperial Military Historical Society Valery Annenkov, vice-president of the American charity "Savior" Catherine Foronda.

The organizer and inspirer of the event A. Bondarev, president of the Russian House "Homeland", was awarded an honorary medal by the project manager Michael Serdyukov.

May 17th - a presentation of the projects of the Pushkin Society and LIAC took place in the program of Ari Kagan on the channel RTN.

On the TV screen the audience could see pictures of monuments to Pushkin in USA. TV viewers supported the idea of collecting video interviews and participation in the project "Tell us your emigrant story". It was suggested to clarify that this is the accumulation of all Russian-language emigrants' archives including all religions and cultures.

May 2nd - the program "Churaevskie tablets" took place. Mieke Crider was awarded with Medal of Honor by the Pushkin Society of America for the preservation of the settlement and its introduction into the U.S. Register of Historic Places. The program was attended by guests Alexander Shramko from Russia and Alexander Chumachenko from Kazakhstan as well as by local residents of Churaevka. Victoria Kurchenko and Boris Borukaev acquainted with the plan of the project promoting the area, which started in 2012 and is supported by the Russian consulate in New York.

We inspected the premises where the historic printing house "Alatas" was and met the owner of this building Julia, an American. She and her husband also own a historic home of Grebenshchikov and live in it 25 years. So far there is a huge printing press. For creation of "Alatas' the money was given to Churaevka by Grebenshchikov’s friends Sikorsky and Rachmaninoff. The writer's wife Tatiana Grebenshchikova, which subsequently taught printing business in Lake-land in South Florida University printing books. managed the process of printing books.

April 28th, "Little company" of New York held the 5th Olympiad of Spoken Russian language for students of all classes. Natalia Misuri, Boris Borukaev and Victoria Kurchenko were members of the jury. Alla Markova - the head of the Olympiad, presented to the children postcards of the Pushkin Society and the books presented by the Russian Consulate. All the students showed a high level of knowledge in the subjects - knowledge of Russia, reading, speaking.

April 27th - the second day of the conference of LIAC and The Pushkin Society in honor of the 130th anniversary of the birth of the writer G. Grebenshchikov, creator of Churaevka.

Alexander Shramko presented a new documentary, "The Messenger", which was presented with great success. In general, thousands of visitors to the library Shipshead Bay in Brooklyn could get acquainted with the outstanding figures of Russian emigration, since there was an exhibition of unique books and documents issued in the historical typography "Alatas."

April 25th was the first day of the conference in the Brooklyn Public Library, dedicated to the 130th anniversary of G. Grebenshchikova with the participation of the Consul-Adviser of the Consulate of the Russian Federation Anatoly Kargapolov and special guest from Moscow Alexander Shramko (Grebenshchikov’s nephew).
The event was a part of the program of the month of Russian-American history. There were a great assistance in organizing of the conference and exhibition by Shepshead Bay Branch Library's manager Svetlana Negrimovskaya.

Official congratulations and welcome to the event were sent by: Roerich Museum (New York), New Magazine (New York), Columbia University (New York), the Society of "Homeland" (New Jersey), the Pushkin Club, Sochi (Russia), House of Russian abroad (Moscow), Shemonaikhinski History Museum (Kazakhstan) - the birthplace of the writer.

March 9th, New York (Brooklyn) hosted another winter POETFEST Poetry Festival, which is part of the oldest cultural center Pushkin Society of America. At the helm of the club since 2005 are Irina Aks, whose name is well known in the Russian literary circles in the U.S., and one-man band Edward Shchegolev (light, sound, scenery, stagehand) and Igor Shklyar (part-time poet, artist, and Irina's husband).

The International Pushkin Foundation in Brussels, chaired by a descendant of the poet, Maria Pushkin welcomed the Festival.

Natalia Mizuri, Vadim Pevsner, Elena Rodina

February 5th - Natalia Mizuri and Elena V. Rodina, representatives of the Pushkin Society in America, witnessed a rare and interesting event - the performance of Vadim (Dima) Pevsner in a New York cafe-restaurant called 'Uncle Vanya'.
The artist began his act with a melodious recitation of rhythmically organized phrases and fragments of thoughts, read from a score. His quiet, magnetically vibrating voice mesmerized the audience, the effect amplified with the orange-red lighting of the hall. There were twenty people at the tables - all who stopped eating, drinking or speaking and froze with attention - and more crowded at the bar in lieu of seats. At this point the artist gradually raised his voice and picked up a guitar. The sound of long-loved songs of worldly vanity and false priorities of the brevity of human life filled the enthralled ears.
Dima is a bold experimenter who created his own unique style of performance. A great many sincere thanks to him for that evening. Our representatives got a chance to talk to the author of the musical compositions - Vadim - and he became interested in our organization. He agreed to join our Public Council and the discussion of joint creative plans and his performances within the framework of our activities began.

January 26th - A musical literature performance for children and adults - sponsored by the Russian Heritage Foundation for American Children and Youth, whose president is Dmitriy Rostovtsev - was successfully presented via an A. S. Pushkin memoriam program in the Nicholas Roerich Museum of New York. Guests of honor included representatives of the Pushkin Society and LIAC. Victoria Kurchenko, president and director of the archive, introduced her colleagues and described the relationships of Churaevka - in which stands a chapel thanks to Project Roerich - and its plans for this year. Natalie Piller, secretary of LIAC, presented 'Pushkin' postcards to the children that took part in the performance.

During intermission the museum was toured and upcoming events were discussed. Elena V. Rodina, director of the art and literature program, spoke of Michael Chekov who lives in Churaevka, and invited everyone on an excursion of it which is scheduled to be led as soon as possible.

In conclusion, the assistant director of the Roerich Museum Aida Tulskaya shared interesting facts from the Churaevka archives, and shared the plans put in place to study the creative contacts of N. K. Roerich and G. D. Grebenshikov (active member of the Pushkin Society), the 130th anniversary of which was held in 2013.

January 19th - A presentation of the book ‘Obsessed Cherished Miracle’ by fellow Pushkin Society member and poet Yuriy Bunchikov was held. The book contained poems, essays, dedications to friends, correspondences between Yuriy Bunchikov and Anastasia Ivanovna Tsetayeva, drawings and memoirs. This is the author’s fourth book. The presentation was led by actress Yelena Stroganoff. The evening was passed in an unusually warm and soulful atmosphere. Writer Bella Izerski, journalist Vitaliy Orlov, poets Rudolph Furman, Inna Bagachinskaya and many others performed congratulatory pieces. Victoria Kurchenko voiced her admiration of how great a feat Yuriy accomplished given the limitations and finite resources of his life, and how it is a perfect example of courage and love for his work. The presentation took place in Russian Bookstore #21 in Manhattan. The LIAC team heartily congratulates Yuriy on the release of his latest masterpiece.