The article discusses the opera “King Lear”, defined by S. Slonimsky as dramma per musica. Based on the premiere performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg (2016), the composer's score, the author focuses on one of the opera's characters who performs the function of commentary - an old Man who looks like Leo Tolstoy. Like the audience of Shakespeare's Globe Theater, he was introduced to the opera by the composer, who also created the libretto for the opera. The text basis of the replicas of this character were phrases and phrases from L.N. Tolstoy's article “On Shakespeare and Drama”, published in the early twentieth century, as well as from the diaries and drafts of the writer. Using the method of comparative analysis, the author reveals special connections between the fate of the protagonist of the opera King Lear and the events of the life of Leo Tolstoy himself.

The article is devoted to the poem of twelve songs “Departed Russia” by G.V. Sviridov. The author considers the creative idea of the composer and his interpretative versions in vocal performance practice. The article highlights the synthetic nature of the genre of the work, its interpretation through ideological understanding by various musicians, musicologists. It is revealed to what extent the author's sense and interpretation processes can interact at the level of an equal creative dialogue. The peculiarities of form and drama are closely related to the genre specifics of the vocal cycle. The mystical, mythological, epic, tragic dramaturgical lines emphasize the main idea of the cycle – the transformation of Russia. All this once again asserts that the “Departed Russia” can be interpreted as a mystical action. The vocal cycle was performed by V. Piavko, E. Obraztsova, D. Hvorostovsky. It was the performance of the creative tandem – Hvorostovsky and M. Arkadyev – that posed the problem of equal dialogue as creation. In the process of this work, a mysterious concept was revealed, “sung” and refracted through the prism of the poem genre. Attention is paid to the technical, tonal, tessitural schemes of the performing editions of “Departed Russia”.

The topic of the article is in line with the problems of musical content and musical semantics, which remain relevant in research practice at the present stage. The article reveals the specifics of the implementation of the image of a mirror in music on the example of the works of A. Volkonsky, A. Pärt and E. Rykova. The image of a mirror, distinguished by its semantic diversity and depth, is recreated in the works of these authors through the principle of mirror reflection, which reveals itself at different levels of musical form - from syntactic structures to the architectonics of the whole. Following this principle predetermined the choice of composers of extraordinary forms of sound, certain techniques of harmonic, polyphonic and rhythmic techniques, special ways of textural organization and performing interpretation. At the same time, the phenomenon of mirror reflection gets an individual realization for each composer.

The development of the New Music of the People's Republic of China at the turn of the 1970s–1980s was marked by a combination of multidirectional genre and style lines. Chinese clarinet music from previous decades inherited composers' attention to folklore, embodied in the system of European music media. The purpose of the article was to analyze a striking example of this style – Concerto for clarinet and orchestra “Sounds of the Pamir” by Hu Bijing. The tasks include the analysis of the work in the context of accompanying phenomena of the professional music of the country. The initial introduction of this material into Russian-language musicology, the typicality of the Concerto for the aspirations of Chinese composers of that time determined the relevance and scientific novelty of the study. As a result, a conclusion was made about the nature of the prototypes presented in the form of modal, rhythmic elements of Tajik folklore, the timbre of folk instruments. The methods of re-intonation of prototypes are associated with the classical-romantic tonal, texture-timbre, and compositional context.

Music of W.-A. Mozart often opens with unexpected aspects, the study of which allows you to see a more complete picture of the work of the great composer. The purpose of the proposed work was to touch on the important topic of Mozart's tragic, manifested in special means of musical expressiveness and drama, in particular, in the semantics of tonalities. The author, based on his rich experience as a pianist, teacher andlecturer, reflects on the semantic multidimensional nature of Mozart, its constant attractive power for the performer and researcher. Within the framework of the article, a large number of works are analyzed, parallels are drawn between different instrumental and vocal genres, which allows us to identify a number of writing techniques characteristic of the composer in terms of the chosen angle. The results of the study expand the idea of the possibilities of performing interpretation of Mozart's music and its further creative understanding.

The article is dedicated to one of the first graduates of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, little known in Russia by Ella Georgievna Shultz-Adaevskaya, a contemporary of the composers The Mighty Bunch and Tchaikovsky. For more than half a century, her versatile activity continued – as a virtuoso pianist, composer (author of two operas and alarge number of chamber vocal, instrumental and choral compositions), as well as a folklorist researcher. Her works on Russian, Slavic, Greek, Italian, Tatar, Estonian, Celtic folklore, published in various musicological publications in different countries, left a noticeable mark on the history of European musical culture in the second half of the 19th century. Due to the circumstances, most of her life passed in Europe, although she always felt (and emphasized this) a Russian musician. The present essay on materials from foreign sources highlights her life and creative path.

The article analyzes cult works in the context of ethnic interaction. The images of the founder of the Christian religion in modern religious painting can be used in two ways. Firstly, as a means that promotes intercultural exchange of values that has been developing since Christianity was born. There are a sufficient number of images of Jesus Christ with the appearance of representatives of different nationalities and ethnicities. These images are created for religious and missionary purposes. Secondly, shocking, scandalous works stand out, where the ethnic image of Christ is used with the purpose of provoking unrest in society, these works forcing people to show emotional aggression. To denote provocative works, the author uses the concept of “reverse discrimination” in relation to religious painting. It is proposed to identify such shocking works with the help of their analysis for compliance with cult functionality, artistic traditions of the canon and historical and biblical sources.

In the process of globalization, the problem of national identity is being actualized. Contemporary Chinese society combines elements of “external” influences and traditional culture. Representing the cultural values and traditions of the Chinese people plays an important role in cinematography. The unique character of Chinese cinema, combining regional, national flavor and elements of modern Western consciousness, gives rise to scientific interest in studying the specifics of the representation of national identity in the context of Greater China cinema, in particular, through content analysis based on reviews and data from presentation pages of films released in China in 2020, one of the most influential websites in China in the field of film content “Douban”, in order to identify patterns of viewers' vision of this phenomenon and establish trends in filmmaking. As a result of the study, it can be concluded that national identity in the context of modern Chinese cinema is manifested in the use of classical Chinese cinema techniques by directors of a new generation, holding film festivals that ensure cultural exchange between filmmakers from different regions of the PRC, joint filmmaking in mainland China and Hong Kong.

In the context of the globalization of information processes, the existence of a media space is especially relevant for modern people. A key niche in it is the cinema, which has become one of the most important cultural forms of the 20th – early 21th centuries, where a uniquelanguage of communication has been formed. The focus of this article is the experience of the joint work of the famous American documentary filmmaker Godfrey Reggio and minimalist composer Philip Glass. On the example of the famous “Katsi” trilogy, which became the debut in cinema for its authors, the process of interaction and features of the creative tandem of two large artists is considered. The work presents an overview of the “Katsi” films, reveals their style features that help make sense of the ideological and semantic concept of the trilogy, analyzes the philosophical aspects of the joint work of the director and composer, who created a unique video art that islargely ahead of its time.

The focus of this article is the literary experiments of sculptors of the XX century. Literary searches of practitioners are a rare phenomenon of significant research interest. For the first time, a review of theliterary heritage of sculptors-practitioners of the XX century was carried out. Thislegacy includes: memoirs and autobiographies, journalistic essays, textbooks and scientific articles. In general, the array of these works can be divided into artistic and theoretical parts. The works of outstanding Russian and Soviet sculptors raise questions of understanding compositional techniques, the role of sculpture in the current cultural process, the specifics of sculptural material, questions of technique and so on. Literary practice becomes an organic continuation, and in some cases - the key to understanding the creative heritage of artists. The article assesses the uniqueness of these works for the professional community, their practical significance.

The period of the Great Patriotic War in the history of the cultural life of Siberia is truly unique due to the extensive activities of workers from art, who arrived in the evacuation. For example, the composer Leonid Simonovich Gurov (1910–1993), who arrived from Odessa. He showed himself in a variety of ways in Irkutsk. Firstly, he declared himself as a bright teacher of theoretical subjects at the music college. Secondly, as the author of works, performed in local concerts. Finally, he was the author of good treatments of musical works. In this article, the task is to restore the picture of Gurov’s activity in Irkutsk. The basis of this work are the materials of the state archives of Moscow and Irkutsk, periodicals and letter from L.S. Gurov to the L.P. Kholodilova, wcho was famous pianist in Irkutsk.

The article examines the issues of the formation and development of prints in Uzbekistan, examines the theoretical and practical problems of modern printed graphics in the republic. The study of this topic is due to the relevance of the preservation and development of the print tradition in Uzbekistan. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first time a scientific analysis of the actual problems of modern printed graphics of Uzbekistan is carried out, the author provides a historio-graphical overview of the formation of the national school of printmaking, the features of the development of certain types of printed graphics and the work of national graphic artists are considered. The aim of the work is to study the specifics of the formation of the print in Uzbekistan and to study the actual problems of its development in the context of the modern historical and cultural process. The results of the research are of scientific value in the development of theoretical material on certain issues of the print, as well as for the study of the artistic features of the graphic art of Uzbekistan as a whole.

The article provides an overview of the cultural ties between Russia and Portugal over the first decades of the new millennium, both within the framework of public and private initiatives. Among other events are considered the acquisition of an earlier unknown landscape by K. Bryullov “View of Fort Pico on Madeira Island” and the opening of a monument to a Russian artist in the city of Funchal; opening of a virtual branch of the Russian Museum at the University of Coimbra; the release of a special issue of the Russian Art magazine dedicated to Russian-Portuguese relations; works by Portuguese street artists Vhils, A. Bordalu II and Pant0ni0 in Moscow and St. Petersburg; works by Russian artists dedicated to Portugal (A. Chechik, O. Anastasov, A. Kovalev, etc.); exhibition of Portuguese masters of video art “Creating Reality”; for the first time presented in Russia Festival of Fado and Portuguese culture “Portugal for all”.

The article describes a significant event for the entire wind community of Russia – the round table Current Issues of Performance on Wind Instruments. Festival Movement in Russia and in the World, that took place on December 1, 2021 on the basis of Dmitri Hvorostovsky Siberian State Academy of Arts. Such alarge-scale event involving the high-level specialists from different countries and subjects of the Russian Federation became the first practice in the history of the Siberian region. Altogether 11 speakers took part in it. The issues discussed at the round table are relevant in the modern world and require collective solution. In addition to this, upcoming contests and festivals in Russia and neighbouring countries were highlighted in order to attract more participants in 2022. Their main task is preserving and developing instrumental orchestra, ensemble and solo performance on wind instruments.