During four days the Club named after F.Dzerzhinski was accepting members and guests of Minsk-98 International Jazz Festival. Only two groups arrived from abroad, and both were from Moscow. But what groups it were! The first one is Peter Petrukhin's children's jazz, and the other is Anatoly Kroll's Lady of the Russian Jazz. The third day of vocal jazz brought surprises. The audience especially liked our former fellow countrywoman Maria Tarasevich. 

Maria, what do you feel while performing in your native land? 

We had a great success. The audience of Minsk was enthusiastic about our concert. We didn't even expect such welcome. Many people failed to get to the performance. Unfortunately there were not enough tickets for all. 

When are you coming to Minsk again? 

We already performed in Minsk in 1994; it was also a jazz festival. Many other groups arrived, including Michael Finberg's orchestra. And now, four years after, we are here again. I don't know when they invite us next time. It depends on organizers of the following festivals. 

As far as I know, this festival is devoted to George Gershvin's 100th anniversary. I believe that many stars appeared due to creations of this great composer. Our Big-Band also played several musical compositions by Gershvin. The audience liked and welcomed each familiar melody with applauses. It means that people are interested and are aware of jazz history and culture. To my mind the Minsk festival was bright and emotional!!!