By E. N. Nikitin,
President of the Singer-songwriter Club
«The Pearl of Caucasus»
General Director of the sanatorium
«The Pearl of Caucasus»

The Regional Singer-song writer Club «The Pearl of Caucasus» was created in September 2001. The Club owes its name to the sanatorium of Nuclear Industry Workers Trade Union situated in the city of Yessentuki bearing the same name. The Club teams up people of different professions, among its members are doctors, teachers, engineers, construction workers, businessmen, students from other cities of the resort cluster called «Caucasian Mineral Waters».
Over the years of its existence, the club has become a real center of art song in this famous federal resort region. Its fame has widely spread not only to nearby resort cities, but also to many regions of Russia.
Over the past ten years, the club members gave hundreds of concerts, performed before the guests of the resort region, vacationers, pupils, students, soldiers. They also take an active part in municipal and regional cultural events. Concerts performed by the club always make «full house», the songs written and sung by the club members quickly become hits of the season. Weekly solo concert and chamber music parties given in the bar «The Halt» of the sanatorium enjoy great popularity among region residents. Recordings of the club songsters are often performed on regional radio channels, always having a good press.
Within the period from 2002 to 2011, the Club became the laureate of multiple Yessentuki urban art festivals, of art song festivals in Arkhyz (Karachay-Cherkes Republic), of the festival «Strings of Soul» (Volgodonsk), «Zeiss Waltz» (North Ossetia-Alania), «Singing Spring» (Yessentuki). The members of the club became winners and laureates of song contests and festivals in Sochi, Arkhyz, Dombay, Volgodonsk, Mezmay (Krasnodar region), Kronstadt, Armavir, Elektrostal. At the National Forum «Zdravnitsa‑2003», held in the city of Kislovodsk, the club was awarded the Diploma of I degree and in 2008 won the Silver medal in this prestigious Forum held in Moscow.
In March 2010, the participants of the club successfully performed in the Main Auditorium of the State Corporation «Rosatom» situated on Bolshaya Ordynka street in Moscow.
The President of the club, Director General of the sanatorium «The Pearl of Caucasus», Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation E. Nikitin and other members of the club are often elected members of the jury and guests of honor of many Russian bard festival. The ranks of the club are constantly replenished with new participants, including schoolchildren of the region.
An undoubted merit of the members of the club is the all-Russian festival of art song and poetry «The Singing Spring», organized and successfully carried out every year since 2002. Held under the patronage of the Nuclear Industry Workers Trade Union, the state Corporation «Rosatom», the Holding «Rosenergoatom», the Administration of the region and of the resort city of Essentuki, this festival has become an outstanding event in the cultural life of enterprises and cities of the nuclear industry, as well as in southern Russia and the North Caucasus
«The Singing Spring» festival always makes «full house», because it is distinguished by wide geography of participants, their high creative level, by participation as members of the jury of such famous Russian bards as V. Turiyansky, Yu.Lores, V. Tretyakov, A. Kozlovsky, brothers Mishchuk, V. Egorov, S. Nikitin, A. Gorodnitsky, T. Shaov, L. Sergeev..
Annually, the banners of the festival gather more than a hundred songsmiths, singers, amateur poets representing different cities and enterprises of nuclear industry. They demonstrate high artistic, cultural and spiritual potential of Russian nuclear industry workers. The festival has become a landmark event in the cultural life of the nuclear industry; it is a powerful means of atom-for-peace promotion and serves the noble objectives of strengthening of cultural ties between enterprises of the sector and Caucasian peoples.
The army of friends and fans of the Club «The Pearl of Caucasus» numbers a lot of poets, artists, musicians, that`s why in the framework of song festivals exhibitions of paintings, photography and sculpture, that emphasize the cultural and educational value of these festivities are regularly organized.
The aims and objectives of the festival are not only art song promoting, but also the strengthening of friendly relations between the regions of Russia: the festivities are ornamented by art groups and soloists, representing different nations and peoples, ethnic groups living in the North Caucasus.
Today, the members of the club have broad creative plans; they aim to take part in a number of regional and All-Russian festivals of art song, to record new CDs, to organize, prepare and hold the next XI Festival «The Singing Spring».
The activities of the art song club, annually performed national bard festivals «The Singing Spring» represent a good basis for the promotion and development, of the cultural and eventful tourism which is one of the key industries of the region. in the resort area of «Caucasian Mineral Waters» and in the Stavropol Territory in general.  

Е. Н. Никитин
By E. N. Nikitin