World’s #1 pianist cannot get UK visa
NewsThe Wigmore Hall has been forced to cancel this Friday’s four-hand recital by Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan because the UK Embassy in Washington ‘has unfortunately not been able to process Daniil Trifonov’s visa in time.’
For ‘unfortunately’ read ‘incompetently’. Some MP should ask a question in Parliament to the Foreign Secretary: this is unacceptable.
Trifonov is the connnoisseurs’ choice pianist. A past winner of the Tchaikovsky and Rubbinstein competitions, he often tours with hs former teacher, Babayan.
UPDATE: He has also been obliged to cancel two concerts with the London Philharmonic and Karina Canellakis.
An update regarding my upcoming dates (15/03 & 17/03) in the UK with the @LPOrchestra and @kcanellakis and the duo recital with @SergeiBabayan: Despite our timely and concerted efforts, the British embassy has unfortunately not been able to process my visa in time. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/oDD2USvB8V
— Daniil Trifonov (@daniil_trifonov) March 13, 2023
Therefore I won’t be participating in those two concerts, however the rest of the tour remains unchanged. Furthermore, we plan to be able to reschedule the duo concert in @wigmore_hall hall in the near future.
— Daniil Trifonov (@daniil_trifonov) March 13, 2023
I doubt that this is incompetence. I find it hard to believe that Russian nationals are welcome in the UK at the present time, and it reassures me that there is difficulty in obtaining a visa
Simplistic, reductive thinking. All Russians are bad, boo hoo.
Trifonov is not Denis Matsuev. He’s not Putin’s lap dog.
Seriously? All Russian nationals not welcome? Including the ones who have publicly opposed Putin showing incredible bravery and been required to flee the country to escape death or imprisonment? I wonder about comments like yours.
Russian artists who hold a Western citizenship having lived successfully in the West for decades, without having close relatives in Russia, are not that incredibly stunning and brave in condemning Putin.
Especially, when threatened with cancellation.
Those who are in a Russian prison, are brave.
Clearly, the West expects all Russians to specifically condemn Putin, or else no soup for you.
“For ‘unfortunately’ read ‘incompetently’. Some MP should ask a question in Parliament to the Foreign Secretary: this is unacceptable.”
If a Russian artist does not condemn Putin by name, the West deems it acceptable to cancel. If the reasoning is a bit dubious, unfortunate accidents happen to happen in the administration.
“My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.”
Also, Daniil Trifonov is not going to be able to play, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on the 15th of March.
“The London Philharmonic Orchestra are very grateful that pianist Vadym Kholodenko has agreed to step in at short notice…”
#1 pianist? Let’s not burden him with that title just yet. Certainly he’s enormously talented, and extremely popular. But in judging his recent playing objectively, he’s still a work in progress. Let’s let his potential continue to unfold, and wish him well.
He isn’t. According to Claudia Winkelman on TV, that’s Lang Lang!
Since when is Claudia Winkelman any sort of classical music expert 😀 😀 Lang Lang is probably the only classical musician she knows 😀
Amen!
That is a sad comparison.
Lang lang agrees with that pleasantly. He is promoting himself with the #1 pianist title for years.
World’s #1? What? in speed, in showmanship? In clowning? I think it’s absurd to try to pick any one musician, composer or choice of piano, for that matter, as “number 1”. Unless we’re simply talking about YouTube or Facebook hits. In which case we’re simply voting on a popularity contest.
True. He’s a great talent but the growing publicity machine needs to be put to one side. Let’s just see how he develops.
Exactly…there are many others, too many, for one pianist to be called the number 1, and since at this level people’s perceptions are personal and usually based on taste in terms of interpretation, it is a ridiculous way to describe a musician.
Possibly the embassy didn’t do its job fast enough but something here doesn’t totally add up – did either the artist’s manager, or Wigmore Hall, not apply for the work permit/visa in time? Or did one think the other was doing it, and they only realised too late? Surely they knew this engagement was coming up many months ago.
Those who know more can advise on whether Trifonov could have been admitted on the CoS scheme, for which you’d imagine that Wigmore Hall would be registered: under that scheme a Certificate of Sponsorship is issued by the “approved sponsor”. Looking at the regs: “examples of these include, but are not limited to: a national arts body, an events organiser, a producer, a venue, an agent, a promoter or promotion company, a production company or a media organisation … Sponsors in the creative sector can issue certificates of sponsorship to individual creative workers”. But maybe that wouldn’t work in this case, in which case did someone need to apply for the work permit/visa a little longer in advance?
There are a number of schemes musicians can apply under – if you are a Russian national you need a visa (whether or not a CoS is required). But you are right about timing – applications can be made up to 3 months in advance of travel and processing usually takes a matter of weeks whatever passport you hold. Impossible to know why the timing didn’t work out here. Shame for the tickets holders.
Surely those kind of artists and concert halls are very experienced with visas. And he does live in USA, it’s not like he is based in Russia.
Exactly. I’m sure he has a Green Card. He might want to consider naturalizing, too, though even a U.S. citizen presumably requires a visa to perform in the UK.
He is a US resident with a US wife and child. He has never been a Putin supporter. This is really bad practice by the British Embassy.
I’m guessing incompetence with his management agency, who in turn reached out to NL so he could push a “bad govt” narrative in this site. Whatever the case, it is terrible for the public who paid for this performance won’t get what they paid for.
It may sound a little bit conspiratorial, but you are right in that the responsibility would fall to his agents to sort this out.
Even if the application went in on time and there is a genuine delay, Trifonov’s agents (Opus 3) should have been straight on the phone with the home office as soon as they realised, and used political contacts to get it pushed through. Blaming the embassy is fine but anyone who has worked with high-level visas will know that this was entirely fixable.
Perhaps Opus3 don’t have the contacts or clout but their new sister company Askonas Holt should certainly have been able to sort this?
How long does it take to get a form, stamp it, sign it and hand it over. Incompetent twerps.
This is such frustrating idiocy. And unfair and sad for the folks who had purchased tickets.
Either pianist alone is worth whatever price of admission. Together… no price can equal the beauty and nourishment these gentlemen offer.
World #1 is a silly title for a pianist. The world’s elite artists aren’t ranked like golfers.
Bravo for your very sensible words!
And here I was, expecting an article about Marc-André Hamelin. So much for relying on headlines.
But to be sure Trifonov is splendid.
Exactly, at this level it is all a matter of preference of interpretation, which cannot be measured.
Pianist n.1?? Ridiculous. Music is not an Olympics competition. Besides, Andràs Schiff is the undoubtedly most eminent artist if any.
In that regard he is no different from countless others who cannot get timely visas to the UK. Some MP should ask questions about general delays in visa processing for applicants, not just for one musician. Whoever you label as #3 pianist shouldn’t be subjected to similar delays. Having said that – the visa process is stupid but fairly known, my own experience with UK visas has been such that whoever needs to – applies well in advance to allow ample time for such delays.
There’s like one guy at the embassy who processes visas and he’s processing each application according to the time stamp on it, and Britain being an egalitarian country can’t just let people jump the queue, it’s very reassuring really that everyone is being treated equally. Trifonov’s agent needs to apply earlier next time.
BS, it’s happening that way, because he is Russian.
See them at Schloss Elmau
Friday
17 Mar
2023
Photo: Dario Acosta, Marco Borggreve©Classical
Daniil Trifonov piano
Sergei Babayan piano
Why you must attend this concert:
Two world-class pianists – two generations – two Steinway grand pianos in one concert
Rachmaninoff (works for two pianos): Suite No 1 G minor (Fantaisie-tableaux)
Suite No 2 S major
Symphonic Dances
Concert with interval, duration ca. 120 min.
Book your room now!
21:00 Concert Hall 73 seats for hotel guests available
Mikaela Shiffrin is the “World’s #Pianist”. In art we avoid using such numbers.
As a ticket holder, this is disappointing. Trifonov also has a concert at the Barbican in June… let’s see if that goes ahead – or if there is more to this than meets the eye. If his Russian nationality is the issue – then I wonder if Monday’s recital with Nikolai Lugansky (also at the Wigmore Hall) will also be cancelled…
Don’t give some of the commenters at this site any ideas.
No. 1 pianist?
The Guinness Book and infomercials say it’s Richard Clayderman.
Is M. Clayderman still ‘tickling the ivories’ in a professional capacity? ‘Haven’t heard of him for some time although, tbh, I was never a fan!
Daniil Trifonov is certainly talented, but having heard both Trifonov and Richard Goode in recital in the last three months, Mr. Goode would get my vote for #1 in the world, as ridiculous as that claim is. And he was able to play Wigmore Hall last October without drama. Perhaps more focus on boring minutiae and less focus on PR would serve Trifonov well.
Trifonov is one of my preferred piano artists. Simply unacceptable
Make no mistake: NOBODY cares about the #1, #10 or #100 pianist, conductor or anything this small, decaying and almost expired artform has to offer.
The sooner this forum realizes that, the better.
Its pointless to continue to act as if this is the 19th or the first 1/2 of the 20th century.
Artists/managers/venues need to adapt or eventually they will one by one cease to exist. The hardcore fans are disappearing and are not being replaced.
Sadly true, classical music is a very very small niche of a declining music industry. The general public are not interested in it, only the people involved and a dwindling number of diehard fans. Let’s face it, every generation of classical music publicists have been trying to make it relevant since the 1960s, most famously trying to make it sexy in the 1980s….which was just embarrassing….
Your grim (and highly inaccurate) observation that “hardcore fans are disappearing and are not being replaced” is simply BS. The enormous number of serious music students around the globe will be both happily onstage and/or in the audience. Go to almost any classical concert in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and see great artists revered like gods, packed houses and FAMILIES with kids listening together. And, IF your indictment were true, it’s not the fault of the music. It’s the fault of inadequate music education in primary and secondary schools, and the absurdly short attention spans of ADHD addled adults. Your comment seems rather bitter concerning this art form. Did you try your hand at it and fail?
Classy Ad-Hominems and red herrings used for confirmation bias.
One has heard the “china will save the classical music world” story for 20 years now….how is that going? Because I’ve been to china and people literally take phone calls during the performance and the audience has ceased to grow. It was a nice fad for some years but they quickly moved on to social media, wine, and to develop their own tech-enabled version of the arts.
After china, what is left, Mars?
And another (pun intended) “Classic”: Its never Beethoven’s fault! Its those uneducated peasants (lolz!) Well, sorry to say but you’ve been living a lie. The ONLY reason classical music spread is because of Europes preponderant status in the world. It reflects the culture of the dominant economic superpowers of those centuries.
Precisely why virtually all movies winning Oscars, or 90+% of all the music hits come from the US: its the culture of the dominant power. Nothing else.
Now the dominant power values technology, so there’s no place for these Anachronistic pastimes. And its being rejected even by the core of the elite it supposedly represents:
How many times has Harry/Meghan gone to the Opera last month in the Bay Area? I personally know several young, high class, golf-playing, private school educated, elite university graduates born&raised in Berlin or London who literally didn’t know these cities had orchestras. Literally never heard of Berlin Phil or anything remotely related to what you call “the superior arts”, they they gladly pay €300-400 tickets to go to arenas and see pop stars or comedians.
This is reality, for those who want to see it.
It sounds like you did bet your life, income and hopes on a sinking ship, congrats! Feel like a winner now?
Yes, it is incompetence. London’s Philharmonia had to cancel a scheduled appearance by the Russian conductor Stanislavsky Kochanowsky two years ago for precisely the same reason. And in case anybody is in any doubt about who needs to take the blame here, take a look at the ever-growing queue of people waiting to have their asylum applications processed. A former British Home Secretary, John Reid, said in 2007 that the Home Office was not “fit for purpose”. Absolutely nothing has changed for the better in the meantime.
It would be timely to dedicate an article about the hassle to obtain the O-1 visa for foreign artists who are performing in the US, how expensive it is and how much paper work it requires.
No 1 Pianist? Gregory Sokolov should have the No. 1 position, but it’s a bit silly really designating positions to any of the top pianists!
That’s odd, just the other day The Guardian informed me that Lang Lang is “routinely described as the greatest pianist alive” so I just don’t see how Daniil Trfonov can possibly be No 1!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/10/that-was-lang-lang-greatest-living-pianist-gigs-on-st-pancras-concourse