Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

 

I am both saddened and glad to be here with you tonight. Saddened because no words can express what my family, my colleagues and myself felt when we learned about the untimely death of Stuart, and this event tonight is a very sad reminder that he is no longer with us. However, at the same time it is so heartening to see how many people remember him and are thankful to him that we can still enjoy the fruits of his creativity. He won the love and respect of all who knew him.

 

And I am no exception. I feel myself personally honoured by our relationship with Stuart. He was an extraordinary talented man who had developed unique spiritual closeness to Russia as if he had a Russian soul. Without that, it would have been impossible to develop such deep understanding of my country and its culture. We call it a gift from the God. And like all real talents he has dedicated a lot of hard work and patience to transform his precious gift into so many treasured moments for the people who listened to his music. I could only imagine how much time and effort Svetlana and Stuart put into the work of the Russkaya Capella and other projects. We are all lucky that Stuart was so generous in sharing his talents with both Russia and Scotland. We are grateful for that, and we won’t forget it.

 

Stuart was a man of a rare character, and I knew him not only as a brilliant professional, but as a kind and tactful person, with a subtle and rich sense of humor. It was always a pleasure to talk to him. And I am recalling many moments of the conversations we had with Svetlana and Stuart.

This year unfortunately we already bid farewell to several close friends of the Russian Consulate General in Edinburgh, those who contributed a lot to developing friendly ties between our nations, those who were passionate and sincere in their love to both countries, those who really build trust between our nations. Among them is Professor Stuart Campbell. While reflecting on it, we fully realize that there is no one else who might qualify to take their place, that these losses are irreplaceable.

 

But the life still goes on, and time heals. Let us hope that it will bring a lot of new talents and gifted people. And let us hope that they will find an endless source of inspiration in Stuart's works and ideas.

 

So let’s celebrate the life and work of Stuart, his talents and achievements. As one Russian writer said: we should remember our fathers not to be proud of them but to be worth them.

 

The memory of Mr Stuart Campbell will always stay in our hearts.