The Apogee Foundation today announced that it would partner with the Odessa Province Administration of Ukraine and the Stolyarsky State Music School to host a festival for elite young musicians. Festival performances and ceremonies will take place in Odessa's Stolyarsky performance halls from September 25th through September 28th of this year. Participants will include previous laureates of Apogee's Excellence Awards and Regional Awards as well as additional gifted performers selected through extensive auditions. Opening and closing the performances will be the Choir of the Stolyarsky State Music School, celebrating their receipt of the Garnet Prize at this year's International Choir Competition in Switzerland. Highlights of the festival and a thirty minute documentary will be broadcast on radio and television, and DVDs and CDs of the event will subsequently be made available. For information on Apogee award laureates from Ukraine who will be performing at this year's festival. All other students wishing to audition for the festival may do so in person or by post. To insure that all gifted musicians may participate, there will be no application fees and performance will be free program. For information on audition procedures, performance schedules and other information about the festival. The festival will adhere to the Foundation's policy that young artists can best achieve their potential in an atmosphere which encourages mutual cooperation and appreciation rather than in opposition to one another. Hence, all applicants deemed capable of receiving an Apogee Merit Scholarship will be invited to participate and all participants presenting world class performances will "win" by receiving awards and recognition reflecting their current skills. In total, between thirty and forty elite young performers are expected to take part in the festival's preliminary rounds on 26-27 September, and all students invited to participate will receive diplomas reflecting this achievement. Roughly half of the musicians performing in these first rounds are expected to progress to the second round of performances scheduled for September 28th. Most of those progressing to the second round are expected to receive Apogee Performance Awards, which include both financial and promotional benefits. Students progressing to the second round also will be eligible to receive Apogee Merit Scholarships, which include a financial stipend running throughout the academic year. Those further demonstrating that they have achieved world class professional stature also will be awarded Apogee's Rising Star Award, which includes an additional financial grant from the Foundation, eligibility to participate in Apogee's Instrument Inventory program, a featured position on the festival CD, and international performance opportunities. Award laureates will be announced on September 28th at the festival's closing ceremonies. The recipient of Apogee's Rising Star Award at the Crescendo Festival held in St. Petersburg earlier this year, Dmitry Smirnov, also is expected to perform at the festival in Odessa. For more information on Apogee awards presented at the Crescendo Festival. Apogee's Odessa festival jury will be co-chaired by Apogee President Kenneth Schneider, the Stolyarsky Music School's Director Eugene Lisuk and its Assistant Director Tatyana Markova, and Yuri Kuznetsov, an internationally renowned musician and instructor at the Odessa Conservatory who now serves as Head of the Department of Culture and Tourism for the Odessa Province of Ukraine. Odessa is virtually without peer in its history of producing elite musical talent, having given to the world such luminaries as David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, Emil Gilels, Svyatislav Richter and Benno Moiseiwitsch. More legendary musicians from Odessa have been selected to appear in Apogee's Hall of Fame than from any other place on Earth, and the performers at Apogee's Odessa festival will appear on the same stage where David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, Emil Gilels and many of the other most outstanding performers of the twentieth century have preceded them. The festival is underwritten by a generous gift from Dr. Bernard Schneider and Mrs. Marjorie Schneider, who are longtime supporters of the Foundation and former members of Apogee's Board of Directors. Dr. and Mrs. Schneider issued the following statement: "We are delighted to assist in furthering the careers of some of the world's most gifted young artists, and to play a part in a global movement which seeks to promote the best the world's youth have to offer by fulfilling their special dreams and talents." Yuri Kuznetsov, Head of the Department of Culture and Tourism for the Odessa Province of Ukraine, said: "We are glad for this opportunity to partner with The Apogee Foundation in continuing Odessa's traditions of producing world class artistic talent, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate on building new traditions with new artists for a new era together." To view this news release with full photographic content as well as in printer friendly format, and to obtain translations into other languages as they become available. About The Apogee Foundation The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.