The first time Vitas appeared on the Russian stage was in December, 2000 with the hit song “Opera # 2”. His achievements over the period of his creative activity up to the present moment are as follows:
1. he released five CDs (The Philosophy of Wonder, Smile!, Mother, Songs of My Mother and A Kiss As Long As Eternity) which were entered into the Top Three bestselling albums on the basis of official sales reports successively in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
he released two singles (Opera # 2 and Goodbye). According to the official sales results, the Opera # 2 single was awarded a RECORD Prize (established by the producers of phonograms) as the bestselling single of 2001, 2002 and 2003.
2. Vitas became a Musical Discovery of the Year according to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and FORUM’2001 Internet Survey.
3. three times he became a laureate of the musical festivals Song of the Year-2000, Song of the Year-2001 and Song of the Year-2002.
4. twice he was awarded the Golden Gramophone People’s Prize – for the song Opera # 2 in 2001 and for the song Smile! in 2002.
5. three times he was awarded the PODIUM musical prize for the most stylish achievements in pop music in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
6. he became a winner of the People’s Hit Prize in 2001, 2002 and 2003, his songs Opera # 2, Smile! and The Star being the most frequently rotated ones.
7. he was awarded the 100 Per Cent Hit Prize (established by the Hit FM Radio Station) in 2001 and 2003.
8. he was acknowledged the Soloist of the Year according to the OVATION National Musical Prize’2002.
9. he held 527 solo performances (as of October 2003) including Russia, Australia, USA, Canada, Israel, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Tadzhikistan, Ukraine, Belorussia, New Zealand, France.
10. he set up an indisputable record with his sold-out premiere solo performance which took place in the State Kremlin Palace on March 29, 2002. He was the youngest artist who has ever performed on this stage.
11. Vitas shot eight MVs (Opera # 2, Opera # 1, The Blissful Guru, Smile!, The Star, Mother, The Bird of Happiness, A Kiss As Long As Eternity).
In 2002 at the personal request of the Council of the Worldwide League “Intelligence Without Drugs” Vitas and his producer Sergey Poudovkin joined the League’s Board of Guardians and became its honorary members along with All Russia’s Patriarch, Koffey Annan, Tina Turner and the presidents of over 20 countries. At the purifying ceremony at the foot of the sacred mountain Tashtar-Ata Vitas was presented “the World’s Stone” which is 350 million years old. According to the legend, this stone has been absorbing all the good deeds of the world over the whole history of mankind.
On September 29, 2002 Vitas presented his collection of garments “Autumn Dreams” on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace. The show included 42 styles of ladies’ outfits some of which had already been displayed in Alma-Ata, Vilnius, Berlin, Tashkent, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon. At present Mr. Poudovkin is holding negotiations with western companies with a view to creating and promoting the VITAS brand, arranging production of his own line of clothing.
In December, 2002 Vitas took part in the TV series which was a screen version of Mrs. Dontsova’s novel “Scoundrel Beloved”. He played the part of an artist coming to the capital from the provinces and causing a sensation on the pop stage with his unique voice and songs. Vitas created two compositions as soundtrack for the movie. During the filming the producers of the series offered Sergey Poudovkin to prolong the contract for the next serial cycle.
In the spring of 2003 the premiere drama performance “Victor, or Children in Power” based on the play by Rogeur Vitraque took place in the Mayakovsky Theatre. The leading part of a nine-year-old boy was played by Vitas. Tatyana Drubich, Renata Litvinova and Mr. Romanov were invited to participate in the project by Dmitry Tchernyakov (stage director, a three times winner of the Golden Mask Award) and Pavel Kaplevich (theatre producer).
In January, 2003 Vitas took part in the Festival of Indian Films which was held in Delhi on 6-11 January. Within the framework of the festival’s program Vitas gave a solo performance and also took part in the opening ceremony.
At the invitation of Lucio Dalla, the composer who created “In Memory of Caruso”, Vitas sang this famous song together with him at the concerts “San Remo in Moscow” held in the State Kremlin Palace. Vitas’ voice enchanted not only the audience but Mr. Dalla himself as well. So he invited Vitas to come to Rome to take part in the rehearsals of “Tosca”, the modern version of the legendary opera.
In November, 2003 Vitas presented his new solo program “Songs of My Mother” in the Concert Hall “ROSSIYA”, Moscow. It consisted of more than 30 compositions, 19 being created by Vitas specially for the premiere. Two new albums of the artist were prepared and released. One included those songs which are considered “the gold reserves” of Russian pop-music, such as “Kings Can Do Everything”, “Winter”, “Chrysanthemums”, “The Gipsy Is On His Way”, “The Bird of Happiness” and much more. The other album comprised only new songs composed by Vitas: “An Autumn Leaf”, “The Star”, “My God, How Much I Love!”, “Even Stars Will Look Like Letters”, “Mother”.
In 2004-2005 the Production Center “Poudovkin” arranged an unprecedented tour with the program “Songs of My Mother” showing it in Russia, the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Israel, the Baltic States. In 2004 Vitas gave more than 250 concerts with this program, his touring schedule is filled out right up to the dates of the subsequent premiere show, that is October 27-29, 2006.
In 2004-2005 Vitas became the most welcomed touring artist in Russia, his premiere performance was acknowledged “the best musical event of the year”. His album “A Kiss As Long As Eternity” released on October 8, 2004 had unprecedented record sales in Russia and CIS: more than 2 million copies were sold within a less than 6 months’ period. The total number of CDs sold during the period of the singer’s creative activity exceeded 10 million copies.
A new show named “Seven Successful Years” will take place in October, 2006. It will comprise the songs from the album “Kiss”, the most famous and favorite numbers, as well as numerous premieres among which, according to Vitas, there will be a genuine hymn to love. Specially for this anniversary a new album of Vitas is to be released and it will include not only “the best of Vitas” but also such new creations as “The Crane’s Crying”, “My Swan”, “I Repeat Your Name”, “Tenderness”.