Children's ballet at the III RAZGON Youth Festival

One of the glorious traditions of Russian musical culture is the annual (since 1997) All-Russian Festival of Folk Art in memory of Alexander Averkin, an Honored Artist of Russia and a composer, held in the Sasovo Municipal District of the Ryazan Region. In 2026, the XXIX All-Russian Festival of Folk Art, dedicated to the composer A.P. Averkin, combines two themes. The main theme of the event is the memory and creative legacy of Alexander Petrovich Averkin, the author of over 800 works that remain popular today. But the fact that this year's festival is being held in the composer's homeland gives it a special significance. Exactly 100 years ago, in the summer of 1926, the village of Sasovo was officially declared a city by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

Following a long-standing tradition, on the eve of the summer vacation season, the Academic Order of Merit in Culture and Arts Ensemble of Songs and Dances of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation held a general meeting of the collective. At the meeting held on July 1, 2026, the artistic director and chief conductor of the Ensemble, People's Artist of Russia, Major General, and Hero of Labor of Russia, Viktor Petrovich Eliseev, summarized the results of the collective's creative activities for the period from January to June 2026. He proudly noted the consistently high level of the artists’ performing skills and the Ensemble’s rich concert program, which was highly successful with the audience, including during the tour performances across the country and performances at the country’s iconic venues – the State Kremlin Palace, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, the Great Hall of the Conservatory, the Church Cathedral Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, as well as at the Main Clinical Hospital of the National Guard in Balashikha. He emphasized the great contribution of the Ensemble’s artists to the patriotic education of the younger generation and the support of the military personnel’s fighting spirit.