The Nutcracker International Television Contest for Young Musicians is an annual music competition, organized by "Russia K" (Rossia-Kultura) state TV channel, branch of the VGTRK.
[1] First held in 2000, the contest became a recognized event in the Russian music world.
The Contest is limited to a solo performance of classical music and has three fields: piano, strings (violin, cello, harp) and winds and percussions (except for block flute).
[2] The musicians of modern age (Galina Vishnevskaya, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Kraynev, Yuri Bashmet, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Alexander Rudin, Denis Matsuyev, Dmitri Khvorostovsky, Nikolay Petrov, Ignat Solzhenitsyn) support the contest, working as adjudicators and providing special prizes and grants.
Gifted children from all over the world have an opportunity not only to show themselves as serious musicians but also to get acquainted, to change their experiences and to perform on the same stage with world-class musicians - the final round of the contest is accompanied by the best Russian orchestras.