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On 17^th and 18^th of July, the Olympic city of Sochi will welcome Russian and American performers from the international jazz world to its “Aqua Jazz” festival as part of the ongoing Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad.

The festivals producer, Igor Butman is known to be one of the best saxophonists in the world, having performed with music legends such as Ray Charles and George Benson, he is also a recent winner of the State Prize of the Russian Federation for literature and arts.

Speaking at a recent press conference, Igor Butman said:

“For the next four years Sochi is going to be one of the cultural centers of the world, with its wide array of exhibitions, concerts, performances taking place there.

“I’ve been involved in the “Aqua-jazz” festival since 2002 and it has always attracted the best jazz musicians from across Russia. With the help of Sochi’s Cultural Olympiad, we not only plan to renew this project, but we also hope to make it an even of international scope and interest.”

“Aqua Jazz” will be opened with a jazz parade. Festival-goers are set to be treated to a wide variation of musical genres which will include straight ahead jazz, jazz-rock, funk, electro jazz and fusion. “Aqua Jazz” Organizers are expecting thousands of guests to be in attendance, all of whom will get free admission to all concerts. The festival is now set to take place annually in Sochi up until the 2014 Winter Games.

The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad officially started 4 years before the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and Sochi will host more than a thousand different cultural events between 2010 and 2014. Each year of the Cultural Olympiad is dedicated to one individual art from: 2010 is the Year of Cinema, 2011 the Year of Theatre, 2012 will be the Year of Music and 2013 the Year of Museums. The closing ceremony of the Cultural Olympiad will take place during the 2014 Winter Games and bring together the best projects from the 4 previous years of the Olympiad.