By Eduard Pimenov
The Belarusians have won first and third awards at the International Muslim Magomaev Vocalists’ Contest, held for the first time in Moscow to honour the famous singer’s memory. Belarusian baritone Ilya Silchukov won the major award, sharing it with Azerbaijan’s Dzhavid Samedov (as the jury failed to choose a single leader in two days of the contest). Third place award went to Belarusian Oksana Volkova who also shared her win with Russia’s Dmitry Trifonov. As awards, the winners received money prizes and a possibility to perform at concerts organised at the best Russian venues and at Muslim Magomaev’s homeland of Azerbaijan.
The contest gathered 14 musicians from five countries — Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. All have passed through a strict selection process and, in line with the contest rules, they sang an aria from the operas (which had been performed by Muslim Magomaev) and a pop song from his repertoire.
