“Own Track” – Vysotsky Foundation Award Ceremony

“For me, an author’s song is an opportunity to talk, talk with people on topics that excite and worry me; tell them about things that gnaw at my nerves, tear at my soul, and so on, in the hope that they are worried about the same thing. And if I have an interlocutor and the opportunity to tell about it, especially to such a large number of people, this is the biggest reward for me, ”Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky said.

On the eve of the 85th anniversary of the POET, actor, bard and musician, the Gradsky Hall hosted the presentation of the Vysotsky Prize “Own Track”.

The award was established in 1997, its idea belongs to the son of the poet Nikita Vysotsky. It is awarded to people who do not change their convictions, to whom today, perhaps, V. Vysotsky would like to dedicate a song; people whose life and work are consonant with the themes of his poetry. The laureates of the award do not receive a monetary reward, they are awarded a badge of honor, a numbered gold medal, on one side of which is engraved the profile of Vysotsky, drawn by himself, with his autograph.

The jury of the “Own Track” award includes friends and relatives of the poet, those to whom he dedicated his works during his lifetime, and laureates of previous years also participate in the voting.

For 2022, the Vysotsky Award “Own Track” from the hands of the son of Vladimir Semenovich Nikita Vysotsky received: twenty-four-time world champion, current world record holder in freediving, president of the freediving association “Freediving Federation”, president of AIDA Russia, head of the freediving school named after. Natalia Molchanova, son of the multiple champion and world record holder in freediving Natalia Molchanova Alexey Molchanov; artistic director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater Konstantin Khabensky and three-time Olympic champion, Soviet hockey player, goalkeeper, coach, president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, Honored Coach of Russia, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak.

At the gala evening, according to tradition, Vysotsky’s songs were performed by famous musicians, actors, cultural and art figures. On the stage “Gradsky Hall” went: “Songs of Our Century”, Dmitry Kharatyan, Ekaterina Guseva, Gosha Kutsenko, Evgeny Dyatlov, Alexander Sklyar, Alexander Yatsko, Aglaya Shilovskaya, Sergey Galanin, Larisa Dolina, Alexander Marshal, Sergey Bezrukov, Kirill Kuznetsov, Vlad Sumishevsky, Alexander Domogarov, Zara, Alexander Ustyugov.

The evening and the award ceremony were hosted by the ageless Dmitry Kharatyan and the charming Ekaterina Guseva.

The hall, filled to capacity, met almost every performer of Vysotsky’s songs with a storm of applause, and at the final “On the Bolshoi Karetny” the audience stood up and sang along with the entire team of artists who congratulated Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky on his 85th birthday that evening.

Vladimir Sabadash. Svetlana Yurieva.

Photo – Sergey Vinogradov.