Famous Russian pianist says he won’t perform in Turkey until it recognizes genocide

By Asbarez | Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Evgeny Kissin

Evgeny Kissin

NEW YORK—Famous Russian pianist, Evgeny Kissin, who is in New York to perform a concert at Carnegie Hall told The New York Times  Monday that he would not perform in Turkey until its government recognizes the Armenian Genocide.

“I personally believe that if people in such countries learn that some musicians refuse to play there because they are dismayed by what their rulers do, that will make intelligent-thinking people more aware,” he said. He hastened to add that he does “not judge or condemn colleagues who perform in totalitarian countries. — it’s a personal choice,” he told the New York Times.

Kissin, who was a teenage prodigy has been an internationally recognized pianist and has dominated the classical music world from a young age.

“He achieved international recognition with a recording of the two Chopin piano concertos at age 12 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He made his American debut in 1990 in concerts with the New York Philharmonic and at a recital in Carnegie Hall, where last month he became the first pianist since Vladimir Horowitz in 1979 to repeat a solo program within a single week,” the New York Times described the musician.

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