Violinist Lisa Batiashvili declares solidarity with Ukraine
mainThe Georgian-born violinist, presently artist in residence with the New York Philharmonic, has been playing a Requiem for Ukraine that she describes as ‘an expression of the solidarity for this country that has been aggressed and taken apart’.
She has also been performing with the Putin ally, Valery Gergiev.
She talks about the balancing act to Brian Wise at WQXR. Click here for interview.
If that’s the democracy she’s talking about…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/10/us-ukraine-killings-probe-special-report-idUSKCN0HZ0UH20141010
On September 15th, at the Rotterdam Gergiev Festival, Lisa Batiashvili played the Requiem for Ukraine (from the Georgian composer Igor Loboda , June 2014) as an encore after a performance of Prokofiev 1 with Valery Gergiev himself.
http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/van/2014/september/15/gergjev-geen-protesten-wel-topconcerten-1418957
Two weeks before she played the piece in Helsinki.
http://youtubemp3music.com/video/nvUx_8_5v3o/Lisa%20Batiashvili%20-%20We%20Agree%20to%20Disagree%20Concert,%20Helsinki,%20Aug%202014.html
Well done, Lisa. Being a Georgian, she certainly knows very well how Russia has been behaving toward its smaller neighbors throughout history, including in recent decades.