Blog #113

I am positively sure you follow my posts, and you know what happens to me almost every day, but I can’t help sharing some thoughts. These four days were unprecedented in the intensity of events and emotions. Starting with the concert in Milan at Duomo piazza, where more than 10,000 people gathered, continuing with a concert on the Red Square - the cultural opening of the World Cup Russia 2018, the match, that actually opened the World Cup next day, where we won with the score 5:0, and ending with yesterday's visit to the training base of our national team in Novogorsk.
I was thinking over the idea of the concert on the Red Square for a long time. I wanted to gather a real dream-team, a team of classical music stars. And this concert was supposed to unite sports and music. I am happy that this idea finally came to life with the help of my friends, first of all, with the help of Maestro Gergiev, who became the orchestra's commander this evening. The orchestra performed phenomenally, despite the fact that it was an open-air concert and the weather was not really warm. Everyone who was on the stage that evening - a unique representative of Opera art – and did just brilliant. We got fantastic energy, very warm greetings from the audience and an incredible spiritual enthusiasm. And it was unprecedented magnitude of the event, for which I would like to thank management team, they made it possible. 
The concert flowed smoothly in the opening match of the World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium on 14th of June. I still can't believe we have World Cup happening in Russia. I admire the high level of organization and the scale of the Championship, so let’s hope, that this level will be preserved till July 15. I am sure that the energy of our concert on the Red Square, which anticipated the opening, was transferred to our team with a charge of luck. I'm not talking only about the final score, but also about the beauty of goals, attitude, and physical readiness. 
And, of course, I can’t help saying again about yesterday's SMS from the Head coach of our national team with an invitation to come to the training base in Novogorsk. It was something unique: to be there, to see the coaching "kitchen" with my own eyes, to communicate with the players, with the coaching staff. Many thanks to Stanislav Salamovich for this opportunity. He showed me an training ground of a phenomenal level, a field of the highest class. It was a special day for our guys, because after the victory it is very difficult to turn this page and start all over again, from a scratch. And this should be done as soon as possible. Because the most important match is ahead - with Egypt, on 19th of June in St. Petersburg. If we win, we will leave the group for the first time in 32 years at the World Cup. The last time it happened in 1986, when there was still a USSR team under V. Lobanovsky. Today our national team is in good shape and the atmosphere in the team is unique and positive, I can confirm that. This microclimate has been created, of course, by S. Cherchesov and his coaching team, I can only wish them the greatest success. 
And I'm writing to you from Kazan, where I have a concert at the festival "White Lilac" with Alexander Sladkovsky. Then I have to go to London, but then I can't, of course, miss the key match for us in St. Petersburg. I am to come to St. Petersburg at 18 in the evening and the match with Egypt starts at 21: 00. Then I immediately fly to Dresden, where I have a concert with Maestro Temirkanov, who, thanks to him for understanding, put me on the second part of the rehearsal in the morning of 20th of June. So you see what is happening in my life now and I am happy, because each of these days has brought me a lot of positive emotions. 
In the first match of the World Cup, the support of national team’s fans helped our players a lot, I can tell you, as a person who performs on a stage and knows how the support of the audience is important. Therefore, our team will need our support in St. Petersburg as much as air to breathe. So let’s save energy, positive emotions and optimism for our guys who really want to win and give all our support to them on 19th of June. See you at the stadium!