The anniversary Platonov Festival — one of the region’s key cultural projects, bringing together theatre, music, literature, contemporary art, and educational events — concluded in Voronezh.
The festival reaffirmed its status as a major event open to a wide audience. Over the month, Voronezh hosted a two-day Street Theatre Festival Flowers on Earth, 15 performances of six plays, four concerts (including two open-air events), a three-day book fair, a reading relay, two exhibitions, five literary meetings, six events in the free educational program, and a photographic performance The Name of This Force Is Light.
The anniversary programme was designed as a large cultural journey across genres and formats. The theatre lineup presented performances that combined contemporary and classical staging, addressing important themes of life, memory, and time. The programme included productions by Vnutri Space (Mirror), Evgeny Vakhtangov Theatre (Pushkin’s Tales), Theatre Company 2sisters (The Train Arrives in…), The Society of Lovers of a Narrow-Gauge Steam Locomotive (Flower on Earth), Krasnodar Academic Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky (Fro), and HACA Producciones with Makia Creative from Colombia (Ingrávida).
One of the festival’s largest highlights was the Street Theatre Festival (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/festival-ulichnyh-teatrov-cvety-na-zemle-den-1/), which brought together 16 troupes and 2 solo artists from nine Russian cities and one village from Smolensk region. Open-air venues became spaces of live dialogue between artists and audiences: performances and happenings engaged citizens of all ages and created a festive atmosphere across the city. Over two days more than 27,000 people attended the Street Theatre Festival.
The music programme included classical concerts and open-air events. Major highlights were performances by the celebrated opera diva Aida Garifullina (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/koncert-aidy-garifullinoj/) and the P. I. Tchaikovsky State Academic Grand Symphony Orchestra with the People’s Artist of Russia Vadim Repin (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/koncert-gosudarstvennogo-akademicheskogo-bolshogo-simfonicheskogo-orkestra-im-pi-chajkovskogo-i-vadima-repina/).
In the Oldenburg Palace Park in Ramon, one of Hungary’s leading jazz ensembles Peter Sarik Trio & Koszika (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/koncert-peter-sarik-trio-koszika/) performed. The festival’s largest musical event — the open-air World Music- gathered over 2,000 spectators at the White Well. Headliner AY YOLA, musicians from Congo — Jupiter & Okwess and Mexico — Kumbia Boruka (perfomed for the first time in Russia), won over the open-air audience, gave spectators a special mood and unforgettable emotions.
The literary strand remained central. The three-day book fair (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/knizhnaya-yarmarka/) brought together about a hundred publishers and thousands of readers. Voronezh residents bought around seven tonnes of books. Creative meetings let guests not just hear authors but engage them directly. Festivalgoers met the 2026 Platonov Prize laureate Yevgeny Vodolazkin (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/tvorcheskaya-vstrecha-s-evgeniem-vodolazkinym/), writers Anna Basner (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/tvorcheskaya-vstrecha-s-annoj-basner/), Yulia Lukshina, Natali Abrazhevich (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/tvorcheskaya-vstrecha-s-pisatelnicej-natali-abrazhevich/), and Dr. Vladimir Varava (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/tvorcheskaya-vstrecha-s-vladimirom-varavoj/).
The reading relay of Andrei Platonov’s works united more than fifty citizens who read aloud stories such as At the Dawn of Misty Youth, Puk-puk, Ulia, and The Iron Old Woman. These works, steeped in themes of childhood and coming of age, convey the child’s inner world, clear gaze, wisdom, and desire to learn. By reading Platonov, the festival not only honors the writer’s memory but shows that his language still sounds modern.
The Platonov program lies at the festival’s heart. Honoring the great Russian writer and native son Andrei Platonov, the festival each year invites researchers of his work. Voronezh hosted the presentation of a new volume of the collective work The Country of Philosophers (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/vstrecha-issledovatelskoj-gruppy-platonov-v-pechati/), and a meeting on the writer’s film scripts. Events were led by corresponding member of the RAS and Platonov scholar Natalya Kornienko.
The exhibition programme included two shows combining representatives of classical and contemporary schools. Anatoly Lyubavin, member of the Union of Artists of Russia and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, presented a series titled Elusive Beauty (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/otkrytie-vystavki-anatoliya-lyubavina/). Multidisciplinary artist Varvara Kuleshova exhibited Charcoal Preparation (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/otkrytie-vystavki-varvary-kuleshovoj-prigotovlenie-uglya/), paintings created from natural materials.
The festival directorate traditionally pays special attention to educational activities. The Educational Programme offered free meetings with actors, directors, musicians, and artists. Audiences met director Savva Saveliev and actor Pavel Tabakov (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/tvorcheskaya-vstrecha-s-savvoj-savelevym-i-pavlom-tabakovym/), discussed the dance-drama «Before the Train» with director Irina Mikheeva, attended a master class by Peter Sarik Trio & Koszika for students of the Voronezh Music College named after Rostropovich, and took part in an art mediation session by artist Varvara Kuleshova. These meetings help participants delve deeper into festival projects, discover different aspects of art, gain new experiences, and speak directly with participants.
A special festival highlight was the photographic performance The Name of This Force Is Light (https://platonovfest.ru/gallery/fotogalereya-2026/imya-etoj-sily-svet/), born from love for Platonov’s words and images. For the concept’s author and photographer Nikita Paukov it is an attempt to hear the writer not through retelling but through visual silence. Eight conceptual images were created by analog methods, without neural networks. Each is tied to a quotation and addresses Platonov’s great legacy.
The 15th International Platonov Arts Festival became a major cultural event not only for Voronezh but for the whole country. It showed again that large artistic forums can thrive outside the capital, becoming magnets for thousands of visitors. Above all — the festival sustains interest in art, cultivates audience culture, creates opportunities for professional exchange, and makes art accessible to a wide public!