“Golden Autumn-2025” brought together students of St. Petersburg and the whole world

The final of the International Student Festival «Golden Autumn-2025», which brought together Russian and foreign students studying at universities and colleges of the city on the Neva River, took place in the White Hall of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

28 years ago, the festival was born in Polytechnic University, the largest university in the city in terms of the number of international students. Golden Autumn is currently under the patronage of the Committee for Science and Higher Education of the Government of St. Petersburg. Both then and now the task of the competition is to integrate foreign students into Russian culture, strengthen interethnic relations and support talented youth.

Participants of the festival from 23 universities and 9 colleges, 16 countries and 7 regions of Russia met in the White Hall to present the culture of their people.

The participants of the festival presented bright performances, immersed themselves in the world of traditions and customs of different peoples, and introduced them to the amazing beauty and diversity of the cultural heritage of their countries. The audience and the jury visited different parts of vast Russia, got acquainted with the culture of the Uighurs and Yakuts, visited Mongolia, Kalmykia, Bashkiria, and the North Caucasus. We went to Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Indonesia, China, Iran, Sri Lanka.

The jury consists of representatives of higher educational institutions and national public organizations of St. Petersburg. They evaluated the performances in terms of vivid national flavor, originality of performance and artistry.

Each song had the story of an entire country. There was a Moldovan—language composition performed by Sabrina Lungu, a student at St. Petersburg State University, «Hata batskou» performed by Danila Staruk, a student at the S. M. Budyonny Academy of Communications, as well as many songs about Russia. Fikria Shaleha, a student of SPbPU, demonstrated her amazing vocal skills and artistry by singing a Malay pop song. All the jury members gave her the highest scores and first place at the festival in the Vocal category.

Incendiary Mongolian dance was presented by students of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, traditional Indonesian dance was performed by students of SPbPU. The Avar dance of the students of St. Petersburg Chemical and Pharmaceutical University captivated both the audience and the jury. Graceful girls were awarded the first place.

The third nomination of the festival was presented by performers on very unusual musical instruments. The Iranian santour, Kalmyk dombra, Tatar kurai and other fascinating instruments sounded in the White Hall. The participants performed not only the music of their nationality, but also compositions of their own composition — Sofia Zvereva, a student of Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, presented a triptych for piano.

The jury members highly appreciated the virtuosity of the participant from Iran, Reza Dezaipour, a student of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture, in whose hands the daf percussion instrument sounded magnetically. The result is the first place in the «Instrumental Music» nomination.

According to the results of the online voting, the audience Award was taken by the «Hey, let’s go!» team from Medical College No. 2, where everyone was captivated by a very artistic and masterly young man playing wooden spoons.

The winners and prize—winners of the Golden Autumn received gifts from the Committee on Science and Higher Education — awards in the form of gold, silver and bronze maple leaves made of stained glass, as well as certificates from the Subscription Editions bookstore. The finale of the festival ended with the general performance of the song «We are the world». All the participants proved once again that music makes the world a kinder place, that culture blurs borders and unites nations.