Everyone's a star!

RIGA - Young performers have always been looking for professional support, and today this issue is relevant as never before. Today, just being talented doesn’t mean that your artistic career will take off. Talent is the foundation, but it is unfortunately not enough. Success requires communication, money and PR.

For a long time Latvia has been known to the public as a country where special attention is paid to music.
Prominent artists usually start on the road to fame with participation in various competitions and festivals. And that’s where they gain popularity and recognition, learn to communicate with the public, and hone their skills.
One such venue is the International Music Festival TV Amberstar, which will be held in Latvia for the ninth time and which opens new horizons for young performers from around the world. The festival invites all talented performers, aged 16 to 35, to take part in the second semi-final of the competition, which will be held on April 27 in Riga. The grand finals will be held in August.

Of the many and various competitions, Amberstar is distinguished by the fact that it offers its contestants to participate in a ‘virtual round’ of the competition, which is a great opportunity for those young artists who do not have strong financial support and simply cannot physically come to Latvia. Just send your number and video shot and it will be broadcast live on the official site of the contest, www.amberstar.tv

The festival has taken place since 1998, and is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, the International Cultural Charity Fund “Dzintara zvaigzne,” foreign embassies in Latvia and mass media.
The aim of the festival is to develop international cultural relations in the musical sphere, to promote young artists of different musical genres and to expand existing cooperation in the music industry.

Over the years of its existence the festival has become a remarkable event in the world of music. In 2001, the contest evolved into the International Music Festival Amberstar. The competition was held in Dzintari concert hall with the participation of Riccardo Fogli, vocal group Cosmos, stars of the Russian music scene and many others.
In 2005, the festival was dedicated to Maestro Raimonds Pauls; in 2006, to the famous Latvian actress Vija Artmane, but in 2007, it was held within the “Days of Riga.” Since 2008, the concept of the contest has been changed: the semi-finals are held throughout the year, but the grand final will be on the cruise-ship “Romantika” on the route Riga-Stockholm-Riga.
Winners are determined by jury and SMSvoting by the audience.

In 2009, the jury included such popular Russian singers as Nikolay Baskov, Boris Moiseyev, singer-composer from Austria Josef Ivashka, executive director of the Finnish television Tair Aliyev, Italian singer and composer Carlo Corri, a soloist of the Latvian National Opera Ieva Viluma and others.

Production Center “Impresa” invites young performers to take part in the competition Amberstar 2010, where they can express themselves, show their talent, skills and professionalism. Each contestant is offered to participate in 3 classes:
“Pop/Rock” - an international hit; “Modern Classic” - arias from musicals and rock operas or modern remakes of classical compositions, and “Original Song” - a song written especially for the participant, or written by the artist him/herself.
Finalists are determined from among all participants in the semi-finals by the sum of the professional jury scores and audience voting (via the Internet and sms) and are invited to the final.
The grand-prix is awarded to the singer who has received the highest sum of professional jury ratings and audience voting, without regard to singing category.

The grand-prix winner will get an opportunity to present himself at the biggest international industry exhibition “Midem 2011,” in Cannes, France, within an “Amberstar” team, all at the expense of festival organizers.
The winners will also get an opportunity to participate in a festival in San Remo, Italy, also at the expense of festival organizers.