Nazira YESENBAEVA
ALMATY, April 6 (THE GLOBE)
In The Ankara Hotel the first concert devoted to the topic �Classicism in music� by a new symphonic orchestra organised by the idea of the Hotel's General Manager Timur Ilgaz.
�I would like to greet you at the today's concert, and since this event depended on our co-operation, I want to thank everyone, who helped us. I think this is our first step towards success, which we achieve in some years,� Mr. Ilgaz said.
The Ankara Hotel administration along with its partners financed performance by the new orchestra. The administration plans to hold monthly concerts in various styles (classics, jazz, and rock) with participation of both local and foreign musicians.
The Hotels' musical manager Arthur Orenburgsky said in his interview to THE GLOBE that the new collective orchestra had been established a month ago according to the model of Spivakov's orchestra �Virtuosos of Moscow�. Best Almaty musicians are included in the ensemble. The conductor of the orchestra, Zhunis Zhumabekov, staged for the first time Messiah oratory by G.F. Handel (soloist-violoncellist Askar Belgibayev graduated from the St. Petersburg conservatory, a laureate of different international competitions). Musical compositions by Mozart, F.J. Hydn and A. Vivaldi, whose music has been success for several centuries.
LONDON, April 6
(BBC)
Two Russian cosmonauts have successfully linked up with the Mir space station.
Their Soyuz-TM craft docked with the ageing space platform just after 0730 GMT on Thursday.
Sergei Zalyotin and Alexander Kaleri took over the final moments of what was mostly an automated manoeuvre. They manually steered the Soyuz capsule for the final two metres.
�Congratulations boys, you made it,� mission control chief Vladimir Soloyov said as he watched the two spacecraft come together. Others in the control room applauded.
Zalyotin and Kaleri will now reactivate the orbital complex. They will concentrate on plugging an air leak that has developed on Mir.
They also have to repair the solar panels orientation and power supply system, adjust an on-board telemetric system, as well as prepare for the arrival of a resupply cargo spacecraft.
They are also expected to go on a spacewalk at some point.
This is the first crew to visit Mir since August. The mission has only gone ahead because of the private finance of Amsterdam-based MirCorp which has agreed to pay millions of dollars to lease commercial rights to the station.
MirCorp has said it is considering various ventures aboard the space station, including opening it up to tourists. Under the agreement, Mir remains Russian-owned and available for Russian scientific use.
The current mission had been originally set to last for 45 days, but officials have now extended this after cutting Russian actor Vladimir Steklov from the crew.
His flight was supposed to be part of a movie but was scrapped after the filmmakers failed to come up with the cash required to buy his seat.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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