On May 8th the concert at the Bolshoi Theatre Beethoven Hall marked the Victory Day. The Bolshoi Theatre opera company soloists Elena Manistina (mezzo-soprano), Petr Migunov (bass), Svetlana Belokon (mezzo-soprano) andNikolai Kazansky (bass) took part in the holiday concert.
The cantata "Do not Feel Sorry for Us" by the Saint Petersburg composer Vladislava Malakhovskaya to the lyrics of the poets that participated in the Great Patriotic War was the main number of the concert's program. It was performed by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra soloists Kirill Filatov and Roman Denisov (violins), Dmitry Bezinsky (viola), Vyacheslav Chukhnov (cello) and others.
The Bolshoi Theatre choir (chief chorus master - Valery Borisov) performed four a'capella choirs by Rodion Shchedrin to the lyrics by Alexander Tvardovsky; this is one of his first choir opuses. Zhenya's romance ("Wait for Me") from the opera "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" by K. Molchanov and the Mother's arioso (from the cantata "We Need Peace") by A. Novikov, songs by G. Sviridov and V. Gavrilin, and a fragment from the vocal-symphonic poem "War Letters" by V. Gavrilin were also performed in the concert.
Margarita Petrosyan, the concert master of the Bolshoi Opera Company, played the piano part. A musicologist Irina Bashkireva was the master of ceremonies.