We have a trio of uplifting stories this week: a Russian rapper freed, a Russian beauty turned royalty, and a literal (and strange) military lift.

This summer Russia’s biggest rock music festival, Nashestvie, faced cancellations by a number of artists who were protesting the festival’s increasing cooperation with the Russian military.

Let's go to Nizhny Novgorod to hear a Russian rendition of the song of the year. And then, lets meet some puppies and a vodka thief.

In which a retired Polish butcher explains how to live to be 100 and serenades us on his trumpet.

When Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed from besieged Leningrad on August 9, 1942, music suspended the horrors of war.

There are many ways to learn music, but just one 
“Russian Way,” as cellist Marianne Ide finds out.

Many Russian cities have songs about about them. Here are six of the best ones about Russia's Northern Capital – three by American artists, three by Russians.

Maria Plotnikova acquaints us with Tchaikovsky. No, not the composer, the town named for him in Siberia's Perm Krai.

Dmitry Shostakovich created classical music that spoke to modern times. Read up on his life story and listen along to some of finest works along the way. 

St. Petersburg (or Leningrad) has always occupied a special place in the world of Russian music. Famous for its rich classical traditions, especially at the Mariinsky Theater, in the second part of the twentieth century St. Petersburg became the epicenter of underground and experimental music.

Who knew? The heart of Siberia, a place best known for its severe winters, was the birthplace of one of the most original, raw rock movements ever to hit the USSR.

For 40 years, Boris Grebenshchikov and Aquarium have made music like no other band in Russia, combining poetry and beautiful, often quizzical instrumentals into a charming sound that is at once entirely unique and entirely Russian.