Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Throughout the year, St. Petersburg, the city on the Neva, hosted creative groups and representatives of the cultural sphere of the Commonwealth countries. An international conference of librarians was organized jointly with the Eurasian Library Assembly. 

The prospects for the development of the museum industry were discussed by the directors of leading museums in the CIS. The theme of interaction between cultures became the main one at the XVIII St. Petersburg International Book Fair. This was reported by the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

Theater artists shared their experiences at the IV international conference “Russian theater abroad as an institution of Russian culture.” In just one year of its capital status, St. Petersburg dedicated about a hundred events to this event, six of which were organized with the assistance of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Member States.

The final chord of the program “St. Petersburg - the Cultural Capital of the CIS” was a concert of the youth symphony orchestra at the Academic Philharmonic named after D. Shostakovich. The creation of an orchestra is one of the landmark projects of the IFGS. The team was first assembled in 2007. Its members traditionally include young musicians from the Commonwealth countries, winners of prestigious music competitions. The orchestra has performed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In addition, the orchestra's concerts took place at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York and UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Over the years, the orchestra was led by famous conductors Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Spivakov, Vasily Valitov. This year the orchestra is led by People's Artist of Russia Sergei Skripka, who became this year's winner of the Stars of the Commonwealth award. Together with the maestro, People's Artist of Kyrgyzstan Rakhat Osmonaliev and young conductors from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan Murtaza Bulbul ogly and Rasul Klychev will stand at the conductor's stand. Artists of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia will appear on stage as soloists: Albina TONKIKH, Elene GVRITISHVILI (Russia), Karina KHOVALYG (Russia), Medea CHIKASHVILI (Georgia), Igor ONISCHENKO (Ukraine) and Jasur KHAIDAROV (Uzbekistan).

St. Petersburg passes the baton of the Cultural Capitals of the Commonwealth to the ancient Uzbek city of Samarkand.