“Over Yasnaya Polyana”

Not far from Arzamas there is a picturesque spot with the simple yet meaningful name “Yasnaya Polyana” (“Bright Glade”). In a dense birch grove with a clean pond lies the pioneer camp of the Arzamas Reinforced Concrete Plant.

It is quite far from the city of Gorky, but this did not stop the hospitable hosts from taking in 160 pioneers from Gorky for the 3rd camp session. All the newcomers to this pioneer camp have long known one another, although they study at different schools and differ in age, from the very small to almost Komsomol members. Art unites them. Two detachments are younger and older boys from the Gorky Boys’ Choir Chapel, one detachment is children from the House of Artistic Education, and another is club members from the V. P. Chkalov Palace of Pioneers.

This unusual contingent also lives at the pioneer camp in a not quite usual way: the children not only rest and have fun but also rehearse, learn new works and give concerts. Here is their plan: in the Arzamas city park on Railway Worker’s Day, at the reinforced concrete plant on Builder’s Day, in Shatki at the monument to Tanya Savicheva, and in their own camp for guests. The children performed superbly at the ceremonial opening of the camp session. An indelible impression was left by the sound of the combined choir of almost the whole “population” of the camp, conducted by Honoured Art Worker of the RSFSR L. K. Sivukhin.

The concert programme includes many bright works, among them A. Pakhmutova’s song “Street of Peace” and S. Sesnin’s “Thank You, Motherland”.

V. BLINOVA, newspaper “Gorkovskaya Pravda”, 11 August 1977