On Saturday and Sunday, April 8 and 9, the Center for Choreographic Art of Penza hosted the VII International Vocal Competition "Crystal April - 2023", which is held under the auspices of the International Union of Musical Figures and the Department of Culture of the city. According to the established tradition, international students of Penza State University from India, Egypt and Armenia competed for the victory in the nominations this year (headed by Maria Melnikova).

The performances of the participants were evaluated by a highly professional jury, which included prominent figures of culture and arts: Oksana Bogacheva, a teacher at the Institute of Arts at SSU named after N.G. Chernyshevsky, a member of the Federation of Vocal Art Teachers of the Russian Federation; Elena Gulyaeva, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Music and Methods of Teaching Music, PSU; Elena Pykova, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, teacher of the Penza College of Arts; Svetlana Turomshina, Honored Worker of Culture of the Penza Region, Chairman of the Penza Regional Branch of the International Union of Musicians.

This year, the number of foreign participants in the competition set a record: the students presented 10 vocal performances in various nominations to the jury. According to the results of the competition, all international students became laureates and diploma winners.

Nomination "Pop vocal. Solo":
– Muradyan Saakanush (Armenia) – 1st degree laureate.
— Mohamed Abdelrahman Saad Abdelhakim (Egypt) — 1st degree laureate.
— Shedge Abhiraj Vijay (India) — 1st degree laureate.
— Kshirsagar Shlok Rajesh (India) — 2nd degree laureate.
— Mali Kalpesh Yuvraj (India) — 3rd degree laureate.
— Ali Mustafa Mohamed Elsayed Abdou (Egypt) — 1st degree diploma winner.
— Patil Tej Ravindra (India) — 2nd degree diploma winner.
– Patel Ketulkumar Hareshbhai (India) – 2nd degree diploma winner.

Nomination "Pop vocal. Duet":
- Saakanush Muradyan, Abdelrahman Mohamed - II degree laureate.

Nomination "Pop vocal. Ensembles":
— Vocal Ensemble of the Institute of International Cooperation — 2nd degree laureate.

Maria Melnikova, a vocal teacher, a member of the Federation of Vocal Art Teachers of the Russian Federation and the International Association of Vocal Teachers, a specialist in the Department of Student Affairs, Institute of International Cooperation, PSU, was awarded a special prize by the Union of Musical Figures of the Penza Region "For Supporting Creative Youth".

“Working with international students is a pleasure. The students with whom we have been working for a long time have made a big professional step forward over the past year, this was also noted by the jury members. And even those students, who started to study vocals only recently, have already grown creatively in a few months. I would like to express special words of gratitude to the organizers of the competition and the jury members for the highest professionalism, trust and valuable advice. We have even more joint work ahead of us and, I am sure, new victories!” Maria Melnikova emphasized.