KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: From September 25 to 28, Kuwait became a venue for a large-scale cultural dialogue: it hosted the “Moscow Seasons” festival for the first time in Middle East. Visitors tried tea from a samovar, discovered Russian traditions, and made wishes for a future winter trip to Moscow and the highlight of the program was a concert by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

The festival gathered over 375 thousand guests, which is a great representation of the high level of interest in Moscow from Kuwaitis. The main attraction for visitors was the “Moscow” pavilion in the country’s largest shopping mall, Avenues.

There, live performances by musical ensembles with balalaikas and folk songs took place, along with a stand from the “Moscow Tea Time” project, where guests sampled signature tea, candies, and traditional lollipops. In addition, everyone could take a VR tour through the streets of the modern Russian capital and join quizzes. The photo exhibition “Moscow Winter Fairytale” introduced “Moscow” pavilion guests to the beauty of wintertime Moscow.

In the exhibition space, visitors left their wishes about a future trip to the Russian capital. The highlight of the “Moscow Seasons in Kuwait” festival was a performance by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ivan Rudin at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Center.

For the Gulf region, this event became a vivid milestone in cultural life, and for Moscow, it was an opportunity to share the energy and warm hospitality of the capital through music. The tickets for the concert were sold out in 24 hours and the Concert Hall was full of admirers of Russian classical music. The program featured Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite “Scheherazade” and “Dance of the Tumblers”, a suite from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” and “Sleepy beauty” waltz, excerpts from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “The Firebird” and Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”.

The state television filmed the concert and will later be broadcast to a wide audience. “Today, Moscow is one of the world’s great cities – a vibrant, forward-looking metropolis that also cherishes its rich history, culture, and architecture. Millions of visitors from across the globe come to see it for themselves, and we are especially glad to see the growing number of friends arriving from the Gulf region, including Kuwait,” — Ambassador of Russian Federation to the State of Kuwait, Vladimir Zheltov said. “It gives me great pleasure to be with you this evening at this cultural event, through which the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra presents one of its artistic and creative performances an occasion that reflects the distinguished level of relations between the State of Kuwait and the Russian Federation, and the depth of the historical ties linking our two friendly countries,” — said His Excellency Minister of Information and Culture and Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Abdulrahman Badah Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi.

“The ‘Moscow Seasons in Kuwait’ Festival perfectly exemplifies the Moscow City Tourism Committee dedicated efforts to position Moscow as a premier travel destination for tourists from the Middle East,” — emphasized Mr. Evgeny Kozlov, First Deputy Head of the Office of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow, Chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee. The next day, the orchestra’s pianist held a master class for students of the College of Basic Education at the Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait’s modern art museum. The participants were four students from the class of composer and associate professor Abdullah Khalaf, a well-known Kuwaiti musician, conductor, and composer.

“The ‘Moscow Seasons in Kuwait”, organized by the order of the Mayor of Moscow in cooperation with the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Kuwait, is a largescale platform for cultural dialogue and an opportunity to experience the breadth of Moscow’s hospitality and the rich culture of the capital. We are confident that by bringing the festival to Kuwait, we have strengthened our commitment to further cooperation.

And, of course, we now look forward to welcoming the festival guests to Moscow” — commented Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, Bulat Nurmukhanov. Moscow continues to strengthen its position in the Middle Eastern tourism market. In 2024, the tourist flow from Kuwait to Moscow reached record levels (over 16,500 visitors), tripling the figures of the previous year.

The flow remains strong: in the first half of 2025, more than 6,300 guests from Kuwait visited the capital — about the same as during the corresponding period last year. The Moscow City Tourism Committee is building a strong and sustainable brand for the capital as an important tourist destination not only in Russia but also on the international stage.

To strengthen international ties, Russia’s capital organizes business missions, showcases its tourism potential at industry exhibitions, and creates projects and events that also target foreign tourists. This year, the Committee held two large-scale “Moscow Seasons” festivals abroad — in Beijing and Kuwait — that attracted millions of cities residents to get to know Moscow’s culture and traditions.