Under the direction of Oleg Soldatov, laureate of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Nadezhda Yuriychuk, soloist at the Dnepropetrovsk House of Music, the Sochi Symphony Orchestra treated guests to an evening of music that included duets featuring the organ and other instruments, such as the piano, cello and contrabass.

In all, about 1,800 guests and music fans attended seven concerts over the course of the four-week festival which featured performances by artists from five European countries including Russia, Italy, Poland, Germany and the Ukraine.

The festival opened with the "Window to Paris" concert on July 14 and featured artists from Sochi's twin-town of Baden-Baden in Germany, as well as debut performances from Italian organist Maurizio Carazzo, Witold Zalewski from Kraków and Saint Petersburg native Alexander Novoselov.

"The Organ Music Festival reflects the trends of 'mainstream organ music', but also experiments with modern styles," said artistic director Valeria Anfinogenova.

"Only in real life can you feel the powerful and incredible sound of the organ, the richness of its sound vibrations and the variety of its musical colours.

"The high quality of these performances is valued by our audience, and many spectators journey to Sochi every year specifically to attend the concert."

The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad is a project run by the organisers of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, which run from February 7 to 23 with the Paralympic Games taking place from March 7 to 16.

Launched in 2010, the Cultural Olympiad aims to promote not only Russia's sporting culture but also its historic and artistic culture through organising a series of events using cinema, theatre, music and museums.

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