OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2012. UTair Aviation has carried out transportation of Moscow musical theatre Helikon-Opera artists to the fifth International Opera Festival called Days of Saaremaa, which is held in the city of Kuressaare.

Arrival of Helikon-Opera troupe on UTair’s Boeing has become an outstanding event for the local airport in Kuressaare located on Saaremaa island. Aircraft of this type are not frequent guests in this airport and as local authorities say this may stimulate development of tourism in the region. Landing of the plane took place under the applause of local residents and orchestra music.

Famous Moscow musical theatre will present at the Estonian festival s masterpiece of Russian classical opera “Boris Godunov” written by Modest Mussorgsky and revised by Dmitry Shostakovich, “The Barber of Seville” by Gioacchino Rossini and “Rasputin” by Jay Rees. On July 19 the festival will present its grand project called “Gala Concert: Carita Mattila and Helikon-Opera” with soprano divas from Finland and youth choir and orchestra of Helikon-Opera. UTair will perform return charter flight to Moscow on July 21.

Cooperation of UTair and Helikon-Opera lasts for several years. Since August 2012 UTair aircraft will feature sound sketches of classical music masterpieces performed by Helikon-Opera orchestra recorded by the laureate of international competitions, conductor Constantine Chudovsky.

UTair enters top three Russian airlines. In 2011 the airline’s aircraft transported 6,750,425 passengers. In January-June 2012 the Group services 40.9% more passengers than in the same period of last year. In 2012 the airline plans to increase transportation volume to 10 million passengers. UTair operates more than 200 aircraft and performs fights on 61 Russian and 39 international routes, including flights to Estonian capital Tallin. Vnukovo International airport in Moscow is UTiar’s base airport from which the airline daily performs 100 flights.

Moscow musical theater Helikon-Opera  was founded in 1990 and combines young and talented artists and musicians. The repertoire of the show today consists of more than 70 performances. Dmitry Bertman, People's Artist of Russia and UTair Ambassador for Culture abroad, is the artistic director and founder of the theater.

The International Opera Festival Days of Opera on Saaremaa,  which will be held on 17 – 23, 2012, plays an important role in the Baltic region. It occupies central place in cultural life and tourism in Estonia and neighboring countries. In 2011 the festival was attended by over 11 thousand people. The most striking event of the festival this year is the performance of the world-famous opera diva soprano from Finland Carita Mattila, who will perform with symphony orchestra, choir and soloists of Helikon-Opera at the traditional gala concert.