LONDON.- As part of London’s Kazakh Art Festival, which will provide the Kazakh community in London with the opportunity to convene and share Kazakhstan’s cultural heritage with the London’s fast-growing international community, Sotheby’s announced that it will host an exhibition of 30 artworks by the some of the foremost modern artists from Kazakhstan, including Marat Bekeev, Askar Yesdauletov, Valery Kireev among others. Staged at Sotheby’s London New Bond Street premises, the exhibition will be open to the public from Friday, December 11 to Friday, December 18, 2009.

The Kazakh Art Festival has been organized by world-renowned Kazakh musician Eleonora Bekova, the Founder of Kazakh Gala and a devoted promoter of British-Kazakh cultural relations and is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the UK. Eleonora Bekova, a world-renowned Kazakh musician and a soloist in her own right, has appeared in concerts worldwide as the much recorded and broadcast pianist of the legendary Bekova Trio.

Commenting on Sotheby’s involvement in the Kazakh Art Festival and decision to host an exhibition of Kazakh art at its London salesroom, Lord Mark Poltimore, Chairman Sotheby’s Russia and CIS, said: “Sotheby’s is delighted to be hosting an exhibition of art by some of the foremost talented artists from Kazakhstan – a region of the world which is becoming increasingly more significant on the international stage - as part of this year’s Kazakh Art Festival in London. We are extremely keen to further our rapport with Kazakhstan and we hope that through this new association it will enable us to provide a heightened level of service to our existing and new clients based in the country.”

As part of The Kazakh Art Festival in London this December, Eleonora Bekova will once again host the annual classical Kazakh Gala concert to celebrate British Kazakh relations and mark the 18th Anniversary of Kazakhstan Independence. The concert will feature the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra together with exceptionally talented conductor Marius Stravinsky on the December 7 and December 14, 2009.

The program for the concerts this season will feature a variety of classical pieces by modern Kazakh composers along with composers of universal appeal. Supported by Kazakh Gala Patrons Her Royal Highness The Princess Michael of Kent, HE, The Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr Kairat Abusseitov and by a columnist, lecturer and an author Mr Jonathan Aitken, this unique concert will take place at Guildhall of the City of London on Monday, December 7, 2009 at 7.30pm. Kazakh Gala concerts has been supported by ENRC and the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the valuable contribution of which has enabled the London’s Kazakh community to promote its cultural heritage to a wide audience of UK.

On Monday, December 14 at 7.30pm in Cadogan Hall, the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra features Mozart’s Symphony No 29, Gershwin-Frolov’s Concert Fantasy on Porgy and Bess, Kazhgaliyev’s Konzertstuck, and Yerkimbekov’s Altyn Arka.