Where to go on December 31
Seven New Year’s events to suit any taste
We will tell you how to fill in the hours leading up to the New Year and offer seven options for pre-holiday leisure.
The musical performance at Christ the Savior Cathedral which traditionally takes place on New Year’s Eve is perfect for a family evening. The Miracle of a Burning Heart is a tale of magic in anticipation of the holiday that invites children and adults alike to reflect on philosophical themes. This year, the New Year’s performance will be even more spectacular, as actors from several well-known Moscow theaters have been engaged in the holiday production, and the traditional setting has been enriched with multimedia images.
The festive program of the country’s main exhibition will take place on the skating rink, where, starting at 20:00, guests will be able to enjoy ice shows and performances. A theatrical performance, The Kingdom of Fairy Tales, will open the program, followed by a drum show, and then an ice performance by professional figure skaters. You can also meet the New Year on the ice – the rink in the park will open at 23:30, and guests will have the option of skating with headphones playing specially selected Christmas music or skating in the frosty silence.
Three concerts are scheduled for December 31 in the Lutheran Cathedral. At 13:00, masterpieces of the music of world cinema will be performed in an unusual arrangement: popular movie themes will be played on the organ. The festive program will continue with the play The Nutcracker (at 16:00), based on the fairy tale by Hoffmann, which will be presented by actors of the Natalia Sats Children’s Musical Theater with musical accompaniment. And New Year’s Eve will end with a special show (at 20:00), where visitors will hear the most famous musical pieces of Oscar winning film score composer Hans Zimmer.
On New Year’s Eve, a special water show will be held at the Moskvarium – the oceanarium will become a turbulent river route for a holiday cruise. The order of events on the makeshift ship will be determined by the spectators themselves, as the performance is interactive and involves direct audience participation. Two shows are scheduled for December 31, one at 11:30 and one at 14:00.
You can also say goodbye to the past year to the accompaniment of classical music: the Roman Catholic Cathedral will host an organ concert, with a trio of an organ, a soprano, and a countertenor performing masterpieces by Mozart, Bach, Schubert, and other famous composers. The concert is also a great opportunity to visit the neo-Gothic cathedral and get an up-close look at its fanciful stained-glass windows.
An unusual concert will be held at the House of Music: a saxophone quartet will perform traditional Christmas and New Year’s music. The Ad Libitum Jazz Ensemble will open the festive program with Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker in an experimental arrangement, and they will conclude with Frank Sinatra classics. There will be two performances on the holiday eve, one at 16:00 and one at 19:00.
This is another opportunity to hear the music of Tchaikovsky, but this time, the master’s music will be a complement to an unusual staging of the fairy tale The Twelve Months. On December 31, the theatrical stage of the Darwin Museum will offer viewers a performance in sand animation – the familiar characters of the fairy tale will be brought to life thanks to the masterly techniques of the stage directors.
Cover photo: International House of Music website
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