Penza, 20 September 2015. PenzaNews. The second interregional Cossack culture festival “Sura Frontier” remains open on the square by the “Penza” cinema and concert hall after the opening day of September 19.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

During the opening, the square turned into a vast crafts fair, with craftsmen from Penza, Saratov and Ulyanovsk, a show “Cossack Kurin,” and an arms exhibition.

The passers-by also witnessed a one-of-a-kind power show by the Cossacks.

The children could have fan on a large trampoline, or make photos with local mascots.

The opening ceremony featured a performance of the horseriding club “Metelitsa” and the song and dance ensemble “Cossack Frontier.”

The acting head of the Penza region Department of Culture and Archive Nikolai Sizov, and the ataman of the Penza Cossacks Union, Cossack Colonel Evgeny Puchkov, congratulated the audience with the beginning of the large cultural event.

In the evening, the action shifted towards the large-scale concert on the grand scene of the Penza Philharmonic Hall. It opened with a performance by Vyacheslav Gulyarevsky and the ensemble “Volnitsa.” They were followed by the folk dance ensemble “Venets” (Volzhsky), Russian ethnical music ensemble “Miryane” (Penza), people’s Cossack song ensemble “Charochka” (Yaroslavl), military ensemble “Cossack Freedom” (Shatsk), Natalya Mescheryakova and ensemble “Zlato-Serebro” (Penza), folk ensemble “Lazoreviye Zori” (Volzhsky), showcase Cossack song ensemble “Plyetyenka” (Yaroslavl), and ensemble “Varenka” (Uryupinsk). The audience met all the performers with grand applause.

The second part of the concert featured the song and dance ensemble “Cossack Frontier.” The performers of the Philharmonic Hall sang both classical songs and the fresh premieres – such as “The Cossacks Song” written by the People’s Artist of Russia Oleg Ivanov, a honored guest invited to the festival, followed by his renowned melodies – “Olyesya,” “Pechki-Lavochki,” “Tovarisch” and “Glukharinaya Zorya.”

The concert was held together with a general military meeting of the Cossacks in the foyer.

Based on the estimations of the Penza region Department of Culture and Archive press service, nearly 3,000 people visited the first day of the festival.

The second day of the “Cossack Frontier” festival will begin on the aforementioned square at noon and finish with a concert of the Rostov-on-Don song and dance ensemble “Cossack Circle” on the grand scene of the philharmonic hall.