Lilit Muradyan
“Radiolur”
World-known pianist Evgeny Kissin will perform inYerevanwithin the framework of the Yerevan Perspectives Festival. The concert will take place at Aram Khachatryan Concert Hall on September 27 and will mark the start of the 2012 fall season. Works by Hayden, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and List will be performed.
This is not the fist visit of the pianist to Armenia. He arrived inArmeniaat the age of 13 with a choir.
“I’m very glad to be in Armenia after an interval of 28 years,” Evgeny Kissin told reporters inYerevan. He said he was deeply touched by the destructive earthquake that hitArmeniain 1988. The pianist was inItaly, when he heard the news, and he has been allocating proceeds from his concerts to the casualties of the earthquake ever since. The forthcoming concert is not an exception. He will donate his $25,000 honorarium to the city of Spitak.
Asked whether he’s glad to visit Armenia, Kissin said he would never pay a second visit to a country, if he didn’t like it. According to him, there are countries, which he never visits because of political reasons, this is the principled stance of the great musician.Turkeyis one of those countries.
“I refuse to go toTurkey, because of its failure to recognize the Armenian genocide, although there have been a number of invitations. Another country I never visit isChina. I was born under red flags, and I simply don’t want to go there,” the pianist said.
During a World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem in 2009 titled “European-Jewish Dialogue” reminded the participants aboutTurkey’s genocidal policy at the turn of the century, and comparing it to the Holocaust, said thatGermanywould not be accepted into any international organization had it failed to recognize the holocaust of Jews.
One of the most famous pianists, Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow to a Russian Jewish family. Kissin started playing at the age of two. At the age of ten, Kissin made his debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra.
Does he regret for the having spent most of his childhood playing a piano? “I had friends and I played with them,” the pianist said. “No one has made me do anything. I’ve done what I have wanted to do, and most of al I’ve wanted to play a piano.”
Asked what he likes most, Kissing said “collecting emotions.” He will convey his emotions to the Armenian audience on September 27.
The Yerevan Perspectives is ranked among the leading European festivals. For 13 years now it has been hosting renowned soloists and orchestras of the world. The festival is supported by the Armenian Ministry of Culture and theYerevanCity Halland is held under the high auspices of President Serzh Sargsyan.
