January 31

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve the last day of the year, is on December 31. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1 (New Year's Day). Island nations of Kiribati and Samoa are the first to welcome the New Year while Honolulu, Hawaii is among the last places to welcome the New Year.

Semyon L'vovich Ferdman better known by his stage name Semyon Farada born December 31, 1933, Nikolskoye village of Moscow Oblast, USSR - died August 20, 2009 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. Ferdman was born into the Jewish family of Army officer Lev Ferdman and pharmacist Ida Shuman. His father died when Semyon was 14. Later he tried to pursue a military career but failed the physical test at the Tank Forces School. He applied to Bauman Moscow State Technical University (then MVTU) and barely passed the exams;^[3] after three years in the classes he was drafted into the Baltic Fleet where he served for four years. The navy noticed Ferdman's artistic talent and assigned him to the garrison theatre in Baltiysk. There while playing the part of a long-haired anarchist on stage, he was the only Baltic Fleet sailor allowed to wear long hair. The navy provided Ferdman with recommendations to Moscow theatre directors, but he obeyed his mother's will and completed his courses at Bauman University, graduating in 1962. He worked as a mechanical engineer until 1969, and played as an amateur with Mark Rozovsky company based at Moscow University. Ferdman first appeared on screen in 1967. His stage name Farada was a nickname that emerged in one of his early filming tours of Central Asia. A studio manager refused to insert a Jewish surname, Ferdman, into film credits, and when Ferdman pressed him to "just invent some charade" (Russian: шарада, sharada), found nothing better than Sharada Farada. Farada stuck with the actor. In 1972, after authorities shut down the Rozovsky theatre, Yury Lyubimv recruited Farada to work at the Taganka Theatre with whom he remained until his death. Farada played in more than 70 films, notably with directors Mark Zakharov, Eldar Ryazanov and Aleksey German. A stroke in June 2000 after the funeral of his friend, playwright Grigory Gorin, forced Farada to retire from acting. He was married to actress Maria Politseimako and was father of actor Mikhail Politseimako, who both supported him in his final years.

 

Nikolay Tsiskaridze is a premier dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet. Ethnically Georgian, he was born in Tbilisi on 31 December 1973. He joined the Moscow Ballet School in 1987 and was admitted into the Bolshoi Ballet in 1991. After winning applause of true ballet legends Galina Ulanova, Marina Semenova and Yuri Grigorovich, he became the youngest person to be named a People's Artist of Russia (2001). He received the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2001 and 2003 and the Prix Benois de la Danse in 1999.

January 30

90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SOVIET COMEDY DIRECTOR LEONID GAIDAI 

Wednesday marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of Leonid Gaidai, one of the most popular Soviet comedy directors, Voice of Russia reports.

He enjoyed immense popularity and broad public recognition in both the former USSR and modern Russia.

He rose to prominence between 1961 and 1975, when he directed a number of top-selling

 movies, The Bootleggers, Kidnapping, Caucasian Style and The Diamond Arm.

Which film do you like best?

January 29

Evgeny Serafimovich Lovchev (Russian: Евгений Серафимович Ловчев) (born January 29, 1949) is a former Russian footballer.


Soviet Top League winner: 1969.
Soviet Top League runner-up: 1974.
Soviet Top League bronze: 1970.
Soviet Cup winner: 1971.
Top 33 players year-end list: 7 times.
Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1972.

January 28

Michael Kazakov was born on the 28 of January in 1988 in Tver. He has become a record holder of Yeralash: 21 plots with his participation. He was the first actor of Yeralash who acted there at the age of 16 (although children usually acted only on 14 years-old).

 

 

Alexander Pashutin was born on the 28 of January in 1943 in Moscow. He is Honoured Artist of RF. Besides, he is People’s Artist of Russia.

January 27

Marat Mubinovich Safin ) (born January 27, 1980) is a Russian politician and retired tennis player of Tatar ethnicity. Safin won two grand slam tournaments and reached the World No. 1 ranking during his career. He was also famous for his emotional outbursts and sometimes fiery temper on court. Safin also holds the record for most broken racquets in a year with 87.

Anton Vladimirovich Shunin ; born 27 January 1987) is an association football goalkeeper who currently plays for Dynamo Moscow.

January 26

Saint Petersburg was renamed Leningrad (1924) 

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject (a federal city) of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914 the name of the city was changed to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg. On January 26, 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Later some streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums, as well as cruiser Aurora – a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy.

Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons (1992)

January 25

Tatiana Day is a Russian religious holiday observed on January 25 according to the Gregorian calendar, January 12 according to the Julian. It is named after Saint Tatiana, a Christian martyr in 3rd century Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. In 1755 on the name day of Ivan Shuvalov's mother Tatiana Rodionovna, his mistress Empress Elizabeth of Russia endorsed his petition to establish a university in Moscow. The church of Saint Tatiana was later built in the university campus, the Russian Orthodox Church declared Saint Tatiana the patron saint of students, and Tatiana Day has become celebrated as Russian Students Day.

January 24

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Су́риков) (January 24, 1848 (Julian calendar: January 12) – March 19, 1916 (Julian calendar: March 6)) was the foremost Russian painter of large-scale historical subjects. His major pieces are among the best-known paintings in Russia.
Surikov was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, where a monument to him was recently opened by his great-grandsons, Nikita Mikhalkov and Andrei Konchalovsky. In 1869-1871 he studied under Pavel Chistyakov at the Imperial Academy of Arts.
In 1877, Surikov settled in Moscow, where he contributed some imposing frescoes to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In 1878 he married Elizabeth Charais, a granddaughter of the Decembrist Svistunov. In 1881 he joined the Peredvizhniki movement. From 1893 he was a full member of the St.Petersburg Academy of Arts. Surikov was interred at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

Andrei Olegovich Belyanin (born 24 January 1967, Astrakhan) is a modern Russian science fiction and fantasy writer, who wrote at least 15 novels with many of then selling over 2 million copies. He is especially known for humour and parody in his fiction. Belyanin's novels are mostly ironical chrono-operas, where the pun is based on anachronisms.

Belyanin is married. He had a son, Ivan, who was kidnapped in 2004 for sake of ransom. Although the kidnappers were arrested a few days after, Ivan Belyanin was found dead, as they killed him at the day of the kidnapping. The criminals, brothers Kirill and Ivan Kostylev, both were sentenced to prison.

Stanislav Genrikhovich Neuhaus (Russian: Станислав Генрихович Нейгауз) (March 21, 1927 – January 24, 1980) was a Soviet-Russian classical pianist.
Neuhaus was born in Moscow, the second son of the Russian pianist and professor at the Moscow Conservatory, Heinrich Neuhaus. He studied piano with his father from 1953 to 1957 and was one of his father's three assistants (next to Lev Naumov and Yevgeny Malinin). Neuhaus' son, Stanislav Bunin went on to became a famous pianist as well. The International Stanislav Neuhaus Piano Competition is named in his honor. Brigitte Engerer (1952-2012) was one of his students.
He died in Peredelrkino near Moscow in 1980, aged 52.

January 23

Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis born 23 January 1969 is a Lithuanian origin Ukrainian-born Russian former professional footballer and manager of FC Ufa.

As a player from 1988 to 2006, he was a right winger, and is remembered for his spells with English clubs Manchester United and Everton, and in Scotland with Rangers. He is the only player in history to have scored in each of theGlasgow, Merseyside and Manchester local derbies. He also played in the top flight of English football with Southampton and Manchester City, as well as also appearing as a professional for Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk,Fiorentina, Al-Hilal, Saturn Moscow Oblast and Krylia Sovetov. He was capped internationally by the Soviet Union, CISand Russia. He moved into management in 2010 with FC Torpedo-ZIL Moscow after two years as general director of FC Nosta Novotroitsk.

January 22

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF WILD NATURE GOLDEN TURTLE

The Golden Turtle is a family orientated photography exhibition and all-round celebration of wildlife. The Golden Turtle itself is a prize awarded for wildlife photography and incredible shots by previous competition winners and competitors -both professional and amateur - from across the world will be on display, showcasing everything from the smallest of insects to the biggest of the big cats. The photography exhibition is complimented by screenings of documentaries, presentations from various wildlife protection organisations and a special educational
zone for kids

January 21

National Hug Day or National Hugging Day is an annual holiday created by Rev. Kevin Zaborney. It occurs on January 21 , but is not a public holiday. The holiday was founded on March 29, 1986 in Caro, Michigan, and has since spread to multiple countries. The purpose for the holiday is to help everyone show more emotion in public. There is only one way you are supposed to celebrate the holiday, offer a hug to anyone and everyone you want. While National Hug Day and the Free Hugs Campaign share many similarities, there is not actual association between the two. Whether you hug a family member or a stranger, the mental and physical health benefits are the same.
Studies have shown that human contact has many health benefits. It has been found that human contact, cial, psychological and physical development.Hugging can also help build a good immune system, decrease the risk of heart disease, and decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol in women. It has been shown that a couple who hugs for 20 seconds has higher levels of oxytocin, and that those who were in a loving relationship exhibited a highest increase. According to the American Psychosomatic Society, a hug or 10 minutes of holding hands with a romantic partner can help reduce stress, and its harmful physical effects. In a study, adults who had no contact with people had higher blood pressure and heart rate. Other studies have indicated that the touch of a friend might not be as helpful as the touch of a partner

January 20

Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin[1] (Russian: Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин;  January 20  1884 – March 10, 1937) was a Russian author of science fiction and political satire. Despite having been a prominent Old Bolshevik, Zamyatin was deeply disturbed by the policies pursued by the CPSU following the October Revolution. He is most famous for his 1921 novel We, a story set in a dystopian future police state. In 1921, We became the first work banned by the Soviet censorship board. Ultimately, Zamyatin arranged for We to be smuggled to the West for publication. The subsequent outrage this sparked within the Party and the Union of Soviet Writers led directly to Zamyatin's successful request for exile from his homeland. Due to his use of literature to criticize Soviet society, Zamyatin has been referred to as one of the first Soviet dissidents.

Victor Mikhailovich Oreshnikov (Russian: Виктор Михайлович Орешников) ( January 20), 1904, Perm – March 15, 1987, Leningrad) was a Soviet Russian painter, People's Artist of the USSR, active member of the Soviet Academy of Arts (1954–1987), Stalin Prize winner, rector of Repin Institute of Arts (1953–1978).
In 1927 he graduated from the Leningrad VHUTEIN in workshop of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. In 1930-1987 he taught in the Repin Institute of Arts. PhD in Art History (1937). Doctor of Fine Arts (1948). Victor Oreshnikov was twice awarded the Stalin Prize (1948, 1950), Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Order of the Badge of Honour, and numerous medals. Solo exhibitions of the artist was held in Leningrad (1954, 1974, 1985) and Moscow (1975).

Anastasia Volochkova (Russian: Анастасия Волочкова; born 20 January 1976)is a Russian prima ballerina.
Volochkova was born into a middle-class family in Saint Petersburg. Her father was a table tennis champion and coach, and her mother was a tour guide. Volochkova has been married once, and she has a daughter, Ariadna, born in 2005. They live in Saint Petersburg and Moscow
Around the new millenium, Volochkova became one of the most famous celebrities in Russia, and has since been featured in newspapers, magazines and TV shows, such as Ice Age, on a regular basis. In 2003, she got major media attention worldwide, as well, as it was reported that the Bolshoi Ballet had dismissed her for being too heavy and tall.
After leaving the Bolshoi Theater she was involved in many media scandals on her private life and political activity. She is one of pro-Kremlin public figures called for a severe punishment for Pussy Riot female punk band.

January 19

Boris Viktorovich Savinkov (Russian: Бори́с Ви́кторович Са́винков) (19 January 1879 – 7 May 1925) was a Russian writer and revolutionary terrorist. As one of the leaders of the Fighting Organisation of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, he was responsible for the most spectacular assassinations of imperial officials in 1904 and 1905. Later, he became Assistant War Minister in the Provisional Government. Savinkov emigrated in 1920, but in 1924 he made an endeavour to return to Russia, was arrested and either was killed in prison or committed suicide.

Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh (Russian: Алекса́ндр Генна́диевич Ку́рош; 19 January 1908 – 18 May 1971) was a Soviet mathematician, known for his work in abstract algebra. He is credited with writing the first modern and high-level text on group theory, his The Theory of Groups published in 1944. He was born in Yartsevo near Smolensk, and died in Moscow. He received his Ph.D. from the Moscow State University in 1936 under the direction of Pavel Alexandrov.

Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich (Russian: Леони́д Вита́льевич Канторо́вич) (19 January 1912 – 7 April 1986) was a Soviet mathematician and economist, known for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1975 and the only winner of this prize from the USSR.

Yevgeny Viktorovich Sadovyi (Russian: Евгений Викторович Садовый; born 19 January 1973) is a retired Russian freestyle swimmer who won three gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona and was subsequently chosen by Swimming World magazine as the Male World Swimmer of the Year.

 
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina (Russian: Светлана Васильевна Хоркина; born January 19, 1979) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the 2004 Summer Olympics. Throughout her career, Khorkina won seven Olympic medals and twenty World Championship medals. She was the first gymnast to win three all around titles at the World Championships and is still the only female gymnast ever to do so. She is considered to be one of the most successful female gymnasts of all time.

January 18

César Antonovich Cui (Russian: Це́зарь Анто́нович Кюи́, Tsezar' Antonovič Kjui) (18 January [O.S. 6 January] 1835 – 13 March 1918) was a Russian composer and music critic of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications, and his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music. In this sideline he is known as a member of The Five, a group of Russian composers under the leadership of Mily Balakirev dedicated to the production of a specifically Russian type of music.

Vladimir Rostislavovich Gardin (Russian: Влади́мир Ростисла́вович Га́рдин) (born Vladimir Rostislavovich Blagonravov (Благонра́вов); 18 January [O.S. 6 January] 1877 – 28 May 1965) was a pioneering Russian film director and actor who strove to raise the artistic level of Russian cinema.
He first gained renown as a stage actor in the adaptations of Russian classics by Vera Komissarzhevskaya and other directors. In 1913, he turned to cinema and started producing screen versions of great Russian fiction: Anna Karenina (1914), The Kreutzer Sonata (1914), Home of the Gentry (1914), War and Peace (1915, co-directed with Yakov Protazanov), and On the Eve (1915).
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he organized and presided over the first film school in the world, now known as VGIK. With the advent of sound pictures, he stopped directing and returned to acting. His roles won him a high critical acclaim and the title of People's Artist of the USSR (1947). Gardin published two volumes of memoirs in 1949 and 1952. Another book, The Artist's Life and Labor, followed in 1960.

Mikhail Pavlovich Shishkin (Russian: Михаил Павлович Шишкин, born 18 January 1961) is a Russian writer. He is considered one of the best contemporary Russian writers.
Mikhail Shishkin was born in 1961 in Moscow.
Shishkin studied English and German at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. After graduation he worked as a street sweeper, road worker, journalist, school teacher, and translator. He debuted as a writer in 1993, when his short story "Calligraphy Lesson" was published in Znamya magazine. Since 1995 he has lived in Zurich, Switzerland. He averages one book every five years.
Shishkin's books have been translated into more than ten languages.His prose is universally praised for style, e.g., "Shishkin's language is wonderfully lucid and concise. Without sounding archaic, it reaches over the heads of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (whose relationship with the Russian language was often uneasy) to the tradition of Pushkin." He deals with universal themes like death, resurrection, and love. Shishkin has been compared to numerous great writers, including Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov and James Joyce, while he admits to being influenced by Chekhov along with Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Bunin, saying "Bunin taught me not to compromise, and to go on believing in myself. Chekhov passed on his sense of humanity – that there can’t be any wholly negative characters in your text. And from Tolstoy I learned not to be afraid of being naïve."

January 17

Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Тане́ев, also transliterated as Taneiev, Tanaiev, Taneieff, and Taneyeff in English; January 17, 1850, Saint Petersburg – February 7, 1918, Petrograd) was a Russian state official and composer of the late Romantic era, specifically of the nationalist school. Among his best works were three string quartets, believed to have been composed between 1898–1900.
Alexander Taneyev is not well known outside Russia. His name is often confused with that of his distant cousin Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915) (who was sometimes known as the "Russian Brahms" due to the emphasis he placed on structural thinking over orchestration and texture).
A member of Russian aristocracy, Taneyev was a high-ranking state official, serving for 22 years as the head of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. His daughter Anna Vyrubova was a lady in waiting and best friend of Tsarina Alexandra. Vyrubova is best known for her friendship with the Romanov family and with the starets Grigori Rasputin.

Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (Russian: Константи́н Серге́евич Станисла́вский; IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj]; 17 January [O.S. 5 January] 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a Russian Empire actor and theatre director. His system of acting has developed an international reach.
Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His development of a theorized praxis – in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development – identifies him as the first great theatre practitioner.
Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the Soviet Union as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States.It draws on a wide range of influences and ideas, including his study of the modernist and avant-garde developments of his time (naturalism, symbolism and Meyerhold's constructivism), Russian formalism, Yoga, Pavlovian behavioural psychology, James-Lange (via Ribot) psychophysiology and the aesthetics of Pushkin, Gogol, and Tolstoy. He described his approach as 'spiritual Realism'.
Stanislavski wrote several works, including An Actor Prepares, An Actor's Work on a Role, and his autobiography, My Life in Art.

Genndy Borisovich Tartakovsky (Russian: Геннадий Борисович Тартаковский,born January 17, 1970) is a Soviet-born American animator, director and producer. Although his Russian name Геннадий is normally transliterated as Gennady or Gennadiy, he changed its spelling to Genndy after moving from Russia to the US. He is best known for the Cartoon Network's animated television series, including Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Sym-Bionic Titan. In 2011, Tartakovsky has joined Sony Pictures Animation, where he directed his feature film debut, Hotel Transylvania, and is directing an animated film based on Popeye