AUGUST 08 2007 www.passportmagazine.ru MAKS Air Show Across Siberia by Train Prepare for Kremlin Zoria Military Festival Retail therapy without the pain advertising Content 4 Editor's choice Children of Terpsichore 4 Made in the USA 8 Like Russian Aristocrats 8 9 St Petersburg Feature Ivan Slavinsky 9 Peter the Great's summer residence 10 Astoria, the feel of history 12 13 Cover Story MAKS air show 13 16 Travel London through russian eyes 16 Bicester Village 18 Into Siberia 20 29 Real Estate Paradise for sale 29 Savant Re-Brand 31 Swiss kick off new chamber with real estate discussion 32 News 34 35 Business The Russian middle class 35 38 Art The 1920's and 1930's in the Soviet period of art 38 40 Hospitality News Gourmet shashlyk in "Cafe Kranzler" 40 Golden Apple Restaurant Pasta Festival 40 Swissotel Krasnye Kholmy sells events at Boutique 40 Dяgilev celebrates New Year in August 40 41 Wine & Dine Moscow's Ferrari 41 Lorenzo Strappato, Executive Chef of Bellezza 42 Recipe 43 46 Community St Catherine's: Representing American Orthodoxy in Moscow 46 Postcard from Belarus 48 The end of everything 49 Stalin's bunker – a surprise under an athletic field 50 52 Out & About Open air in Paradise 52 Moscow Oblast Governor's Show-Jumping Cup 52 Dewar's Russian Polo Cup 53 RBCC Apple Bar&Restaurant networking meeting 53 Cox hits 75 not out 54 GEOS 54 Ex-pat football 54 56 Last Word Victor Shenderovich 56 08 2007 Letter from the Publisher August is a ‘happening month’ and we have lots in this issue to tempt you to see and do things out of the ordinary. Top of the list is the MAKS air show, the feature of our cover. This is your chance to see great flying displays up close and it is all taking place less than an hour’s drive from Moscow. The bi-annual show is going to be as spectacular as ever as John Bonar explains in his cover story. Or follow Martine Self on the train to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. She takes the terror out of long distance travel on the Trans-Siberian Express with her first hand account. St Petersburg is wonderful in the summer and we tempt you to head north with Na- talia Shuvalova’s article on artist Ivan Slavinsky and his new gallery, a feature on Pet- rodvorets, often compared to the Palace of Versailles and an article on Rocco Forte’s landmark hotel, the Astoria. Olga Slobodkina-von-Bromssen gives us a Russian’s eye view on London, and drops several names in the process. For some retail therapy without the pain of hefty price tags, our feature on Bicester chic shopping village should tempt you out of the British capital. For those with an eye on further afield, what could be more remote than Fiji? Olga Mironenko writes about a paradise island for sale, one of the few that can still be ac- quired freehold in the South Pacific. And it comes with a nearly complete villa resort development. We are pleased to have as Managing Editor for this issue the distinguished Scottish author, Ian Mitchell. He is the author of Isles of the West: a Hebridean Voyage and Isles of the North: a Voyage to the Realms of the Norse. Ian founded an organization called People Too, described by him as an "organization to defend rural communities from the John Ortega impostion of centralized bureaucracy". Owner and Publisher He has also written a book, called The Cost of a Reputation, about the Aldington-Tol- stoy libel trial which took place in London in 1989 and which concerned Operation Keel- haul, a controversial British wartime operation. No stranger to Russia, he is currently dividing his time between Moscow and Edinburgh but is likely to be a more permanent resident of our fine city from September. In this is- sue he gives us a preview of the upcoming Kremlin Zoria military festival which will be launched in September. moscow telephone codes change Dear readers please note that since the beginning of 2007 the fixed line telephone codes were changed. Now there are 2 codes functioning: -495 and -499. For those who have 495 code: out of 495 you dial: to 495 – 7 digits, to 499 – 8 (499) 7 digits. To mobile – 8 (code) 7 digits. For those who have 499 code: out of 499 you dial: to 499 – 499 7 digits, to 495 – 8 (495) 7 digits. To mobile – 8 (code) 7 digits. In any combination of numbers the call is considered and billed as local. General director and publisher Real Estate editor John Ortega, 784-2834 Sonya Rinkus [email protected] [email protected] Editor-in-chief Contributors John Bonar, 959-2873, 8 (916) 544-8073 John Bonar, Charles Borden, Anne Coombes, Jon [email protected] Hellevig, Annet Kulyagina, Linda Lippner, Olga Acting Managing editor Ian Mitchell Mironenko, Ian Mitchell, Elena Platanova, Martine Self, [email protected] Natalia Shuvalova, Olga Slobodkina-von-Bromssen Editor, Wine&Dine Section Proof reader Anna Kulyagina, 959-2271, 8 (903) 243-1318 Linda Lippner [email protected] Designer Arts & Community Editor Marina Orlova Natalia Shuvalova [email protected] Contributing editor Photographers Charles Borden Alex Gorov, Denis Manko, Ruslan Sergeev, Lana Abramova [email protected] Webmaster Business editor Daniel Klein Alexey Timokhin [email protected] [email protected] Business writer Accounting and legal services James Blake Vista Foreign Business Support [email protected] Trubnaya Str. 25/1, Moscow, (495) 933-7822 Circulation 40,000. Readers 80, 000. Published by OOO Passport Magazine. All rights reserved. This publication is registered by the Press Ministry No. 77-18639. 08.10.04 Editorial Address: Ozerkovskaya Embankment, 50 Bldg. 1. Office 515. 5th floor. We occasionally use material we belive has been placed in the public domian. Sometimes it is not possible to 115054 Moscow, Russia identify and contact the copyright owner. Tel: (495) 959-2332, (495) 959-2875, (495) 959-2271, Fax: (495) 221-2677 If you claim ownership of something we have published, we will please to make a proper acknowledgment. www.passportmagazine.ru 2 08 2007 Editor's Choice Children of Terpsichore by Natalia Shuvalova 'Giselle' Photos courtesy of Summer Ballet Seasons Summer Ballet Seasons is the annual Clas- Most of the companies performing at Smirnov-Golovanov is working on 'Mas- sical Ballet Festival in Moscow. Its purpose the Festival are infrequent visitors to Mos- carad', music by Khachaturyan. is to maintain and develop Russian cultural cow. They spend most of their time tour- I met him personally and I was intrigued! heritage. Whatever this phrase may mean, ing abroad or in other Russian cities. One Not every day do I meet a real ballet leg- they are doing very well. Since 2001, when of the regulars is the Russian Classical Bal- end, one who studied and danced with the very first Summer Season was held, the let Theater of Viktor Smirno-Golovanov. Pavlova, Tereshkova and Posokhov, and performances have been attended by more Their performances are scheduled in Au- who directed many world-renowned per- than 200,000 people. It was expected that gust when the group returns from Taiwan. formances. One of them was “Love and the main audience would be foreign tour- Nonetheless, they spent the whole month Death of Anna Karenina”, starring Maya ists who came to Moscow to find that the of June in Moscow, living their everyday Plisetskaya. I expected a story of the hap- famous Russian Ballet is on tour in the coun- ballet life – rehearsing, rehearsing and re- py life of a ballet star. However, it turned try they had just come from. But it turned hearsing. out quite differently. out that Russians have equal interest! The Their repertoire is vast: “Swan Lake”, To get to the rehearsal, I had to take a performances are traditionally held at the “Sleeping Beauty”, “Nutcracker”, Giselle”, shuttle bus to the kolkhoz – yes, there are Russian Academic Youth Theatre, which is “Don Quixote”, “War and Peace”, “Romeo still places that are referred to by this sovi- right next to the Bolshoi Theater, opposite and Juliet”, “Love and Death of Anna Kar- et word – at Zarechie. Within half an hour the Kremlin and Red Square. enina”, “Carmen Suite”, “Cinderella”. Now ride (maybe 45 minutes from the Kievska- 08 2007 Editor's Choice Principals Natalia Padalko, Anastasia Gubanova, Mikhail Mikhailov, Talgat Kozhabaev ya station), the bus stopped in front of a was eager to see and learn about ballet in and art director of the Russian Classical red-brick building. The driver announced Paris and New York. But the Soviet Govern- Ballet Theatre. Naturally, the question the Kolkhoz Zarechie’s Palace of Culture. ment would allow only the Moscow stars arises: why classical? “Ballet stars rehearse in a kolkhoz!” I to travel. Those in the provinces, no mat- “As a dancer,” he replies, “I like and trea- thought to myself. ter how talented they were, never had a sure every style. Modern ballet is won- The first person I met upon arrival was chance. I was furious with that injustice. derful. But when I was very young, I hap- Victor Smirnov-Golovanov, the director When the Soviet Union collapsed and it pened to meet Solomon Yurak. He used to and the founder of the theatre. He was nicely, but very simply, dressed. There seemed to be no arrogance about him. At first, I wondered if this was his secretary, not Smirnov-Golovanov himself – world- renowned ballet director and former Bol- shoi Theatre star.