Russia will be represented by Sasha Santa, the winner of the TV project "Main Stage" and Vasily Urievsky, a participant of the Voice telecast.
The 16^th international contest of young pop singers "New Wave 2017" has kicked off in Sochi. For the first time, the venue for the main events is the Olympic Park, where the New Wave Hall has been constructed, the organizing committee of the contest reports.
The New Wave has opened with a traditional gala concert featuring pop stars and 14 contestants from nine countries. "In total, more than 12,000 applications from young singers were submitted to the organizing committee of the New Wave 2017. Finalists from Armenia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Sweden were selected according to the results of the semifinals," the organizers remind.
Russia will be represented at the festival by Sasha Santa, the winner of the TV project "Main Stage" and Vasily Urievsky, a participant of the Voice telecast. From Ukraine, the singer under the nickname ISAAK will perform at the competition.
On the opening day, Philip Kirkorov, Irina Allegrova, Nikolay Baskov, Natasha Koroleva, Sergei Lazarev, Polina Gagarina, Dima Bilan, Olga Buzova, Jasmin, Disco Crash, Alexander Rosenbaum, Larisa Dolina and other Russian pop music stars performed. Special guest of the evening was singer LP.
The contest program and closing without headliner
On the first contest day, September 9, the contestants sang in the "World Hit" program, held within the framework of the "Cinema Day". Then the contestants performed "Country Hit", with the third day dedicated to the author's song. Earlier it was reported that the "New Wave" would for the first time introduce to public songs by winners of the people's contest about the Crimean Bridge.
Young singers will also give free concerts, one of in the heart of the resort city, where two previous competitions were held on the square near the seaport of Sochi. As the tradition goes, the participants of the "New Wave" will finally set up a star in the Star Alley and the finalists will be entrusted with the installation of a memorable bas-relief.
The "New Wave 2017" will be crowned with a gala concert on September 14. In 2016, Sting performed at the closing ceremony of the music contest. This year his compatriot Robbie Williams was expected to be the headliner of the closing gala concert, but due to illness the performer canceled his visit to Russia.
“British singer Robbie Williams was not the only planned performer in the closing concert, so there is no question of returning tickets to his performance,” - the press service of the contest pointed out.
The History of “New Wave”
The music competition was held in Jurmala from 2002 to 2014 and moved to Sochi later on. One of the reasons for the move was the ban imposed by the Latvian authorities on visiting the country by Russian music celebrities, including Iosif Kobzon, Valeria and Oleg Gazmanov. The jury annually includes singers and musicians from Russia and other countries. Its chairman is the People's Artist of Russia, producer and composer Igor Krutoy.