International students win Student Spring Festival in three categories

Penza State University finalised the creativity festival “Student Spring – 2022”. This year the competition was held in a new format: to prevent the Covid-19 spread, the viewers did not see the twelve usual concerts of the institutes and faculties. Students could demonstrate their talents and compete for victory in the categories on a single competitive day. The programme included auditions in four areas, including music, theatre, dance and originality. In total, 58 applications were submitted for the festival. The student performances were assessed by the professional jury comprising the staff members of PSU Culture Centre and well-known culture figures in the city of Penza.

The international students of PSU presented seven creative performances:
- Saakanush Muradyan (pop vocal (solo), mentor – Mariia Melnikova);
- Solanki Priyank (pop vocal (solo), mentor – Mariia Melnikova);
- Saakanush Muradyan, Abdelrahman Mohamed (pop vocal (duet), mentor – Mariia Melnikova);
- Inri Reik, Victoria Hitijahubessi (pop vocal (duet), mentor – Mariia Melnikova);
- Cui Yu (instrumental performance (solo), mentor – Elena Koroleva);
- Tan Dunan (instrumental performance (solo), mentor – Elena Koroleva);
- Alshraedeh Walid Khaled (dramatic reading, mentor – Vladislav Svyatov).

Following the competitive auditions, the international students became the absolute winners in three categories. Saakanush Muradyan with the song “Havatu Em” became the best in the area “pop vocal (solo), foreign song”; the duet of Saakanush Muradyan and Abdelrahman Mohamed with the song “You are the reason” received the title of winner in the category “pop vocal (duet)”; Cui Yu was recognized as the best in the area “instrumental performance (solo)”. In addition, Alshraedeh Walid Khaled was awarded the special prize "For preserving, understanding and promoting Russian culture”. Thus, the international students lead in the number of awards during the competition “PSU Student Spring – 2022”.

“Each student appeared on this stage is a winner! We are pleased that the efforts of students and their teachers and mentors were appreciated. We have received a lot of pleasant feedback from the members of the esteemed jury. We surely plan to work even more actively in the future. We have great creative ideas: our international students - Saakanush Muradyan and Abdelrahman Mohamed - will represent Penza State University at Student Spring of the Penza Region!” said Mariia Melnikova, specialist of the Department of Student Affairs.