Orchestral numbers and military marches by composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Mikhail Glinka will be played during Vladimir Putin’s presidential inauguration ceremony Monday in the Kremlin, while the refreshments will include 5,000 bottles of sparkling wine produced by Russian winemaker Abrau-Dyurso.
A march by Tchaikovsky will be played as Putin passes through the parade halls of the Grand Kremlin Palace, said presidential orchestra head conductor Anton Orlov, according to a statement posted Friday on the website of the Federal Guard Service.
After Putin is sworn in as president, the Russian national anthem will be sung by a choir made up of female singers from the Large Academic Choir and male singers from the A. Alexander Russian Army Academic Ensemble of Song and Dance. The choir will also perform the song “Glory” from an opera by Glinka.
A 30-gun salute from the Kremlin Naberezhnaya will meet Putin’s exit to the Red Porch. During a parade of the presidential regiment, an elite military unit formed in 1936, around Cathedral Square, the presidential orchestra will play a “standard array” of military marches. The parade will conclude with the sounding of the bell in the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.
The menu at a reception following Putin’s inauguration will be based on Russian cuisine and ingredients, Office of Presidential Affairs spokesman Viktor Khrekov told Interfax.
In March, a state tender worth 26 million rubles ($867,000) appeared on Zakupki.gov.ru for a catering service to prepare dishes such as sturgeon with vegetables in champagne sauce, mini-
ratatouille, and cocoa cappuccino for the party. But Khrekov said at the time that the menu had yet to be approved.
Drinks for the reception will include 5,000 bottles of a collector’s edition 2008 vintage sparkling wine by Krasnodar-based Abrau-Dyurso that was originally meant to be aged until the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“It is truly the best that has been made at the winery in all the years of history of the new Russia.” Abrau-Dyurso head Boris Titov told Interfax.
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