Mikhail Bryzgalov, director general of the Russian National Museum of Music delivers a speech at the exhibition. Photo: Courtesy of the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing

Mikhail Bryzgalov, director general of the Russian National Museum of Music delivers a speech at the exhibition. Photo: Courtesy of the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing 

A Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff picture exhibition was unveiled in Beijing on December 12 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rachmaninoff and foster cultural exchanges between China and Russia. 

Rachmaninoff is widely billed as one of the eminent pianists of his day and, as a composer, he is one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. 

The marvelous exhibition featured various pictures such as rare family portraits, letters, and hand-written sheet music. Many of the exhibits were on display for the first time and were based on Rachmaninoff's prolific creation of archival materials, of which his friends and relatives donated to the Russian National Museum of Music, the Global Times learned from the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing. 

A powerful piano concert was also staged at the event. Chinese and Russian guests played musical masterpieces composed by Rachmaninoff.

The event can be fairly referred to as one of the major exhibition events in China, 

co-organized by the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing and the Russian National Museum of Music. Mikhail Bryzgalov, director general of the Russian National Museum of Music also attended the ceremony. 

On December 13, a round table event in observance of Rachmaninoff also took place at the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing. Bryzgalov, in his address, paid tribute to Rachmaninoff's remarkable life and his creation.