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The article is devoted to the study of the creative principles of the Russian opera director Boris Alexandrovich Pokrovsky, which he developed in the Chamber Musical Theater. The main content of the article is an analysis of the directorial concept of B.A. Pokrovsky. This issue has not been thoroughly investigated and requires further research. The relevance of the article is due to the processes occurring in the modern musical theater as a cultural phenomenon and is related to the functioning, social representation, stylistic and dramatic features of the genre. The fundamental changes taking place in the methodology of the stage interpretation of the classical and modern opera composition are a reflection of the powerful transformations of the value foundations of culture. In this regard, the scientific study of the unique creative method of Boris Pokrovsky as a cultural phenomenon can serve as a basis for identifying specific mechanisms for translating axiological characteristics of culture into artistic principles and synthesizing traditional and innovative interpretations of the director. Boris Pokrovsky was an outstanding stage director. He is best known as the stage director of the Bolshoi Theatre between 1943 and 1982 and as the founder of the Chamber Music Theater in Moscow. He put on stage many rare and even unknown operas. The phenomenon of the theatre is still a mystery to the theatre critics and art historians, whereas the methods of the director lend themselves to analysis and are disclosed in the article.

The last decades of the 19th century were marked by an unprecedented growth of the so-called “non-academic ethnography” in Russia. This period of time witnessed a rise in the number of ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Russia created by non-academic researchers, such as teachers, doctors, government officials, clergymen, political exiles, rather than professional scholars. The texts created by them, both nonfiction and literary, are extremely valuable for the study of the spiritual heritage of the peoples of Russia. The article provides a definition for the term “non- academic ethnography” and substantiates the legitimacy of its use; it outlines the methodological aspects and the prospects of using non-academic ethnography for the study of traditional cultures of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. The two identified extensive groups of sources are missionary diaries and ethnographic works written by political exiles. The article proves the need for a discursive approach to their study and the importance of considering extra-textual phenomena, such as: the collective identity of the authors of these works, their behavioral practice, the ideological semantic field which defines the position and the goals of the non-profession- al ethnographers, etc. Although the research potential of the indicated sources is evident, its actualization requires the implementation of modern scientific methods.

The 9th International Conference “The Creative Individual in the Cultural Context: Readings in Memory of V.I. Fatyuschenko” was held at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Regional Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University in September 2021. The conference has existed for more than fifteen years and has become a traditional academic event in the life of Moscow State University. The conference participants are scholars from the humanities faculties of Moscow State University, leading Moscow universities, universities of Russia, near and far abroad. Within the framework of six sections, there was a comprehensive exchange of the research results evaluating the role of personality in traditional and modern cultures, in literature and art, science and culture of daily life. The conference participants focused on the problems of formation and preservation of individual and ethnic identity; the phenomenon of autobiography and the axiology of creativity; the image of the creator in historical memory and arts. The mate- rials of the papers, apart from a variety of artistic texts, included rare historical documents, folk music, spiritual traditions, materials of ethnographic expeditions, family photographs, and various egodocuments. A special place in the conference was occupied by the memorial section that develops the academic heritage of the outstanding scholar Alexander Vladimirovich Vashchenko.

In the second half of the 19th century the Russian Empire engaged in the active process of nation-building. Essential to it was the process of Russification, or the various forms of assimilation of ethnic minorities. This term is one of the controversial and ambiguous concepts in modern historical, social and cultural research. The article suggests a constructive approach to this issue which implies situational analysis of the process of Russification through specifying the conditions and actors of intercultural interaction. The article examines the understanding of Russification as an aspect of the process of Christianization, expressed by several prominent representatives of the Transbaikal and Altai missions. It focuses on the opinion of a Transbaikal missionary Veniamin (Blagonravov), who considered Russification a necessary condition for the success of preaching Christianity. Unlike in the western borderlands of the empire, where Russification took a distinct political and legal turn, in most cases in Siberia it occurred as a spontaneous process carried out through the interaction of the indigenous population with various social groups of the Russian people (artisans, government officials, exiles). Missionaries were among the most significant agents and mediators of the Russian language and culture in the region. At the same time, the conditions of interaction between missionaries and the indigenous population varied in different Siberian regions. The article reveals the differences in the understanding of the need for Russification in the process of Christianization of the local population by the missionaries and highlights the factors influencing the interpretation of the tasks and methods of missionary activity, in particular, the specifics of the local cultural situation, the degree of social organization of the indigenous peoples and the peculiarities of their traditional beliefs.

Comparative culture studies is one of the promising and actively forming areas of the Russian humanities. The development of polar processes of globalization and localization of cultures, ethnocentrism and multiculturalism actualizes the task of studying the cultural diversity of the world. The discovery of common principles of harmonization of the human society and nature in the cultures of different countries and continents opens up new ways to prevent and solve acute political conflicts and environmental problems of our time. Created at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the research group brought together staff from various departments of the faculty engaged in holistic studies of cultural practices of the past and present. Special attention is paid to the actualization of the values and conceptual foundations of traditional cultures of the world. Along with theoretical problems, the research group in comparative culture studies is involved in the development and modeling of new forms of intercultural interaction and ways to improve the cultural competence of university and high school students. This is achieved, among other things, by organizing field culture studies in which the students of the faculty take an active part. The prospects and relevance of both theoretical and applied work of the research group “Comparative Culture Studies: Traditions and Modernity” are evidenced by a large number of conference papers and publications. The importance of scientific research in the field of comparative culture studies is due to the urgent need to update the intercultural, interregional, interethnic and interconfessional aspects of modern humanitarian knowledge.

Throughout its history, Russian oriental studies have been closely linked to the educational and missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the beginning of the 18th century, Peter I initiated the study of oriental languages for missionary purposes, and he also created a multi-level system of theological schools for the Russian Orthodox Church to help increase the level of intellectual training for clergy. Languages of the peoples of the Russian Empire and those of the East beyond the Russian Empire were taught in various church-run educational institutions.

In the 19th century, the importance of studying and teaching oriental languages grew as part of the process of forming a unified cultural space for the empire and nation-building. This led to the teaching of Tatar, Chuvash, Kalmyk, Mongolian, and other languages in theological seminaries and academies run by the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the century. Outstanding scholars, both secular and religious, developed the methodological basis of missionary oriental studies and created a wealth of educational materials. Through the training of specialists who spoke the languages of Eastern peoples, they not only fulfilled church-related goals, but also contributed to the state's objectives. Graduates from theological schools who spoke Oriental languages engaged in missionary work, translation, linguistic, historical, ethnographic and cultural research, teaching children and adults in ethnic schools, thus eventually playing an important role in cultural development within the Russian Empire and beyond.