Students at the International School of Moscow will take part in an all-day music marathon on Friday to raise money for disadvantaged children in Russia and abroad.
Children aged 3 to 16 will sing and play a variety of musical instruments for 11 hours in total.
The event is in aid of the British charity, BBC Children in Need, and the Russian charity Diema's Dream.
"All students will be taking part from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. We've also got some special guests and local musicians," said the school's music department head James Langford, who is organizing the event. "The event is about participation. Everybody can get involved. Music is for everyone. I don't believe it is an elitist subject."
Pop star and former "Eurovision" song contestant Alsou will come to the school to judge the competitions, and the school will see a battle of the bands contest, Langford said.
The marathon will finish with a two-hour concert and the playing of the school marathon song "Let's Give Them Hope." The song was composed by students with Grigory Bulgakov, Lucy Carton, Anya Dranichnikova and Nikita Alexeyev writing the lyrics and Minjun Bae and Saga Brink writing the music.
"It took us two music lessons to write the song, and we made the video in two hours. It was really fun," said Carton, who is also the song's lead singer. "The inspiration came when a woman came to the school and showed us a Power Point [presentation] about a girl we are going to help. The chorus is based on just helping people in general."
The girl Carton talked about is Irina Naumkina, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Diema's Dream set the school a target of raising 360,000 rubles to pay for Naumkina to go to special rehabilitation center for cerebral palsy sufferers in Beijing.
It is the third music marathon to be held at the International School. In 2010, the school marathon raised 440,000 rubles, and in 2012 the marathon made 520,000 rubles. This year's event aims to raise 600,000 rubles for the two chosen charities.
"This event promotes friendship between Russia and the U.K. This year we have seen a negative development in relations between the two countries," Langford said. "Students from both countries [are] working together through music and singing to help disadvantaged children everywhere."
If you want to get involved or attend, tickets are still available. See www.internationalschool.ru for the address and concert details.
More info raising funds for Irina Naumkina can be found at www.ddfund.ru/im-nuzhna-pomoshch/e/11462.
Contact the author at artsreporter@imedia.ru
