The VII Winter International Art Festival will be held in Moscow.

From January 11 to February 13, 2026, Moscow will host one of the most anticipated cultural events of the winter - the VII Winter International Art Festival under the artistic leadership of Maestro Yuri Bashmet, People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation. A large-scale academic art marathon will be held at six theater and concert venues in the capital. This year's festival program is very diverse: during the month, the public will be presented with a kaleidoscope of events from virtuoso chamber performances to grandiose musical and theatrical productions and world premieres. Among the participants are recognized masters of the stage, as well as foreign guests from Spain and Italy, personally invited by Maestro Bashmet and the festival management.

"I am glad that every year we receive convincing evidence that our beloved city needs this festival, that Muscovites and guests of our capital love and are very much waiting for it. For me, the festival in Moscow is very expensive. And every year we try to make it truly special, to fill it with unique events," says Maestro Bashmet.

This year, concerts and theatrical performances, including those specially commissioned by the festival, will be held at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Moscow International House of Music, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater, the Maly Theater, the Gogol Theater and, for the first time, the Peter Fomenko Workshop Theater. Among the participants of the festival are Maestro Yuri Bashmet himself and three of his ensembles: the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra and the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra. And also: Konstantin Khabensky, Danila Kozlovsky, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Sergey Garmash, Ildar Abdrazakov, Evgeny Mironov, Igor Kostolevsky, Maria Barakova, Andrey Merzlikin, Mikhail Porechenkov, Igor Zolotovitsky, Polina Agureeva, Igor Vernik, Simone Kermes (soprano, Germany), Dmitry Masleev (piano), Ksenia Bashmet (piano), Grant Bashmet (violin), Fabrizio Meloni (clarinet, Italy), La Venexiana Ensemble (Italy), Al-Firdowsi Ensemble (Granada, Spain) and many others.

Traditionally, the festival's theatrical program includes both premieres and performances that the public has already loved. In particular, continuing the annual tradition, for the seventh time the festival will open the cult play "Don't leave your Planet" at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov on January 10 and 11, where Konstantin Khabensky, Maestro Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble will present a fantasy based on Exupery's The Little Prince.

This year's program also includes popular productions from previous years: "Love Stories" (Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov, January 29), "The Meek" based on Dostoevsky's novel of the same name (Maly Theater, February 8), the play "The Cathedral People. Pictures of Russian Life" based on the novel by Nikolai Leskov, staged by Polina Agureeva (Theater named after Gogol, January 31), a performance concert "When Love came to you" based on a story by Yu. Kazakova's "Blue and Green" staged by Marina Brusnikina, with the participation of Igor Kostolevsky (Moscow International House of Music, February 10), a performance-concert "Love Stories", where music is combined with the stories of Chekhov, Bunin, Kuprin, Bulgakov, Vampilov, Gorky about love (Moscow Art Theater named after Chekhov, January 29).

The main theatrical premieres of the festival will be the concert performance Reflections on January 16 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall with the participation of Danila Kozlovsky, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Yevgeny Tkachuk, Nikita Vysotsky and Anastasia Skorik, Denis Rodkin, Eleonora Sevenard and Boris Berezovsky, and the unique performance Iolanta based on Tchaikovsky's opera in the author's version by Yuri Bashmet. and staged by Pavel Safonov on January 19 (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall), "Poor People" by F.Directed by Murat Abulkatinov and starring Evgeny Mironov and Yulia Khlynova, Dostoevsky (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, February 2).

The central event of the festival's theatrical program will be the world premiere of Polina Agureeva's play "About Love. 5 pounds of love, 22 misfortunes, 33 tantrums, minus 3 sisters", based on the stories and plays by Anton Chekhov, which will be held on the stage of the Peter Fomenko Workshop on February 6 and 7. Addressing Chekhov is always a conversation about a person, about the meaning of life, and almost always about love. Love as an inner depth or as a barren hollow flower? As a desire to find your higher self, or as the tragedy of a life blunder? Why do Chekhov's "five pounds of love" destroy the lives of literally all his characters? This play is an attempt at dialogue with Chekhov, not with any particular play or story, but with his complex deep worldview, with his reflection on the eternal. Famous actors Karen Badalov, Natalia Kurdyubova, Polina Agureeva, Ilya Shakunov, Maxim Litovchenko and others will take part in the performance. As well as the Moscow Soloists Chamber ensemble conducted by Maestro Bashmet. The composer of the play is Valery Voronov.

The centerpiece of the festival's concert program will be a concert on Maestro Bashmet's birthday on January 24 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Every year, the maestro celebrates his birthday on the stage of his favorite hall, surrounded by friends and listeners. However, the program and design of the evening are traditionally kept secret: from year to year, the audience learns it only in the concert hall itself. The participants of the upcoming concert on Yuri Bashmet's birthday are Ildar Abdrazakov, Maria Barakova, Ksenia Bashmet and the All–Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yuri Bashmet.

The bright accents in the concert program will be the evenings "Endless voices of love. Claudio Monteverdi – Barbara Strozzi" performed by the Italian ensemble La Venexiana on February 3 and the Spanish ensemble Al-Firdowsi on February 4.

Two evenings will also be dedicated to memorable dates: on January 27, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall will host a concert on the birthday of the great classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (on the 270th anniversary of the composer), where Simone Kermes (soprano, Germany) and Dmitry Masleev will perform with the Moscow Soloists Chamber Ensemble conducted by Maestro Bashmet.piano), Fabrizio Meloni (clarinet, Italy).

And the closing concert of the festival on February 13 this year will be dedicated to the upcoming 80th anniversary of the modern classic, People's Artist of Russia, composer Alexander Tchaikovsky. In one evening, two of his monumental works commissioned by Maestro Bashmet will be presented at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall: the oratorio "The Word about Igor's Regiment", where Sergei Garmash will perform as a reader, and the choral opera "The Tale of Boris and Gleb" starring Andrei Merzlikin. The New Russia State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Bashmet is on stage all evening.