Mendeleevsk will host the "Pasternak Readings": Rutberg, Volkova and Dyuzhev are the main guests.

      Dmitry Dyuzhev will perform in Mendeleyevsk with the one-man show “Eugene Onegin”

      What are the “Pasternak Readings”?

      The “Pasternak Readings” will be held for the third time in Mendeleyevsk from September 20 to 21. The festival is dedicated to the work of Nobel Prize laureate in literature Boris Pasternak, who in 1916–1917 worked in the office at the Ushkov factories in Bondyuga (the name of Mendeleyevsk before the revolution), as well as to his contemporaries. “Tatarstan is very rich in cultural events. It would seem difficult to surprise our audience, which has a high level of exposure. But three years ago Mendeleyevsk did the impossible,” said Damir Natfullin, Deputy Minister of Culture of Tatarstan, today at a press conference in “Tatar-inform,” speaking about the “Pasternak Readings.”

      In his view, Mendeleyevsk will become the cultural events capital of Tatarstan in September thanks to the festival. Entry to all events is free.

      Last year the event was attended by 6,000 people. As Yuri Razbezhkin, Deputy General Director of JSC “Ammonium” (one of the event’s sponsors), said, the organizers did not expect such a number of guests and participants. Theaters from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, and Nizhny Novgorod presented their productions.

      Dmitry Dyuzhev will perform in Mendeleyevsk with the one-man show “Eugene Onegin”

      Headliners in previous years included actress Elena Zakharova, actress and singer Olga Kabo, actor and People’s Artist of Russia Emmanuil Vitorgan, and actor and rector of the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute Yevgeny Knyazev.

      The main star this year will be Honored Artist of Russia Dmitry Dyuzhev, who will bring the one-man show “Eugene Onegin.” Based on past experience, every seat will be taken in the Sergey Gassar Palace of Culture, where Dyuzhev will perform.

      “The venue seats 350 people, so come early. We fill the upper galleries and allow people to be seated in the aisles. From past years’ experience, when Elena Zakharova performed, we filled this venue so tightly that it seemed there wasn’t room for a single apple to fall,” Razbezhkin said.

      Also at the “Pasternak Readings” they are expecting People’s Artist of Russia Yulia Rutberg with her musical-poetic evening “A Tribute to Gumilyov.” A creative evening by actress Ekaterina Volkova is planned, during which she will read poems and prose by Voznesensky, Limonov, Tsvetaeva, Akhmadulina, and Bulgakov to music by Shostakovich, Chopin, Prokofiev, and Scriabin.

      A poetry challenge on VKontakte and part of the “Pasternak Readings” in Kazan

      The “Pasternak Readings” are unique in that they take place in a small town, but some events will touch Kazan. Thus, on September 13 at 18:00 in the “Black Lake” park in the capital of Tatarstan there will be the premiere of three video fantasies created by a neural network. Artificial intelligence plunged Musa Jalil, Sergey Yesenin and Boris Pasternak into contemporary realities, and the result will be shown to Kazan residents and guests of the city.

      Even if you cannot make it to the festival in Mendeleyevsk, there is still an opportunity to be part of this literary event. You can take part in a challenge to read poems by Pasternak and others. Participants must shoot a vertical-format video and post it on the social network VKontakte with the hashtag #пастернаковскиечтения2025.

      “Last year we were astonished by how seriously people prepared for the challenge and what theatrical readings they were. There were clearly rehearsals, participants came up with special backgrounds for the readings. There was a large number of Pasternak’s poems,” said Maria Galperina, founder and ideological inspirer of the company “Yarkie Lyudi.”

      The challenge is especially dear to the organizers because it shows that poetry is alive and needed by people. It is able to unite people of different generations.

      “Summer in Tatarstan” — a mark of quality

      The “Pasternak Readings” festival is held as part of the “Summer in Tatarstan” project, initiated by the Rais of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.

      “We have already felt the synergy of ‘Summer in Tatarstan’ in another of our projects — ‘Race of Heroes.’ Many people who did not know about the existence of cultural and sports projects in the republic learned about them. The audience has grown. People understand that ‘Summer in Tatarstan’ is a mark of quality,” Razbezhkin said in response to a question from “Tatar-inform.”

      Robert Iskandarov, head of the Mendeleyevsk district, reported that another festival as part of the “Summer in Tatarstan” project — “Chemistry of Talents” — has already taken place in Mendeleyevsk. In addition, there is a connection between the “Pasternak Readings” and the “Our Yard” program, which was also initiated by Minnikhanov.

      “Our ‘Pasternak Readings’ take place in a dome. It is located in the middle of a courtyard area that unites residents of neighboring houses. We hold events both around the dome and inside it, bringing our townspeople together so they come and enjoy the ‘Pasternak Readings,’” Iskandarov said.

      The “Pasternak Readings” festival has taken root and become established in Tatarstan

      The deputy minister of culture listed major cultural events that, like the “Pasternak Readings,” take place not in the capital of Tatarstan. These include the ethno-modern festival “Karakuz,” held in Almetyevsk, and the gastronomic festival “Sviyazhsk Ukha,” which takes place on the island-town of Sviyazhsk.

      “This festival has confidently entered this series of established events. The more such events there are in the republic, and not only in Kazan but in other cities, large and small, the more everyone will benefit. Our culture will win, our traditions will win,” Natfullin said.

      “Such an event is important for consolidation, since Tatar-speaking and Russian-speaking poets live in separate worlds. It’s like different crowds, but they come together when events of this scale, like the ‘Pasternak Readings,’ take place,” said poet and translator Luiza Yansuar.

      According to Razbezhkin, the festival has taken root and become established in Tatarstan. It gives residents of Mendeleyevsk the opportunity, without leaving their hometown, to attend productions by capital theaters and see star actors of the Russian stage in person.

      Photo: © Sultan Iskhakov / “Tatar-inform”