“We are inspired and happy”: “New Wave” to take place in Kazan

For the first time, Kazan will host the international contest of young pop singers “New Wave”. The festival will take place from August 21 to 26 at the Kazan Family Centre. The decision to host “New Wave” in Kazan was announced by Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of the city, and Igor Krutoy, composer and creator of the contest. “Our whole team have been dreaming about this event for more than 10 years. In support of hosting the “New Wave”, we received 100,000 signatures and sent them to Moscow. Finally, the “New Wave” is coming to our city. We are inspired and happy, and we were supported by the Rais of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. We have already started preparing, and there are four months until the event starts, everything should be done on time,”- said the Mayor of Kazan. The idea of holding the contest in the capital of Tatarstan was first proposed back in 2014 during a meeting of the Kazan City Duma. At the time, Igor Krutoy considered Kazan as a possible venue for the festival along with Crimea, Sochi, Baku, and Kaliningrad. “I'm glad to be here in this city. I'm happy that the “New Wave” will take place in Kazan. This city is very close to me, as it is full of music and culture. I love Kazan and tell everyone that it's the coolest city for people who live there and for cultural activities. I hope the festival will be a great success,”- said Igor Krutoy. Applications for participation in the contest are open until May 15. Gifted performers between the ages of 16 and 35 are invited to participate. Participants can perform solo, duets, ensembles, or groups in any genre of music. The contest will have two rounds: the semi-finals and the finals. The performances of all contestants will be judged by a professional jury through open voting. In previous years, the jury has included such celebrities and pop starts Seymour Stein, Toto Cutugno, Al Di Meola, Laima Vaikule, Dimitris Kontopoulos and others. This year, Filipp Kirkorov, Lusiya Chebotina and others are invited to become the jury members.