IV Festival of Musical Arts of the New Acropolis School of Philosophy was held in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Art is one of the facets of education at the school of philosophy. We believe art promotes subtle perception and sensitivity, develops awareness skills and the ability to convey ideas as well as helps team unity and personal overcoming.

This year’s festival held under the motto “Through Diversity to Unity,” brought together teams from seven cities and branches of the New Acropolis school.
They presented their performances in four categories: music, poetry, theater and dance. The jury assessed not only the professionalism of the performances, but also the meaning and spirit conveyed.

Among the performances we could hear compositions by Rimsky-Korsakov, Bulat Okudzhava, The Beatles, poems by Raimond Rilke, Zinaida Mirkina, Boris Pasternak, theatrical performances based on the myth of Hercules and the Hydra, Gans K. Anderson’s “The Snow Queen”, Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince”, dance shows and much more.

In addition to the competition program, the festival included excursions around the city and museums, a master class on reading and understanding a short story, communication, joint activities.

At the end of the festival, participants summed up the two days in a creative way by composing lyrics for Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah!”

During these days we lived for a year.
The ice on Neva’s almost dissapeared.
Spring will come to our hearts, giving light.
Our unity is a good sign,
And everyone was a magician on stage.
Burning the fire of Art! Hallelujah!