Brilliant pianist is among students killed in Belgrade shooting
NewsReaders have informed us that among the eight victims of the Belgrade school massacre was a virtuoso pianist and composer Andrija Čikić. Andrija was 14.
Placido Domingo writes: ‘Andrija Čikić was not only a young, vibrant, talented pianist and a brilliant musician with a promising future but also a human being from our community.
‘A youthful person full of joy and dreams. I share the pain with Virtuosos and with the inexplicable loss which the entire competition has suffered.’
Terribly tragic. Now Belgrade suffers another mass shooting, only a day later. Let’s hope Europe does not descend into what the USA has become.
Children are the hope of the world. Let us not kill them or their dear spirits!
I am reminded of the words of Gustav Mahler during his tenure as Director of the Vienna State Opera. One morning the mail that was left on his desk included a death notice. He opened it, read it, looked up and said: Es hat schon wieder den Falschen erwischt. (Freely translated: Yet again the wrong person has passed on.) I can hardly imagine what that child’s parents must be suffering. And to think he was shot and killed by a peer – a young person his own age … and for what reason? Not only are my gun-swingen US compatriots SICK, they are spreading their contamination through social media, another other things, everywhere. I was about the age as this young boy when I also played the same Rachmaninow Prelude. I am now 77 and have lived to tell about it – for the simple reason that the violence in the United States of today did not exist on a daily basis in the United States in which I grew up. Violence and crime existed back then, injustice too, especially regarding minorities. But the probability of leaving for school in the morning and being shot dead before the end of the school day was unimagineable. May that child rest in peace and his family find consolation.
End. Gun. Violence.
I cannot imagine why ANYONE ANYWHERE would give a thumbs-down to the comments made by A.L. and me! Of course, everyone has a right to his own opinion. But what do the thumbs-down mean here? The killing in Belgrad is NOT tragic? Someone hopes that Europe WILL descend into what the USA has become? Two people were dissatisfied with my comparison of the USA in which I grew up and the USA of today? I know what I experienced and I have long observed with horror what has happened to my home country. If someone did not appreciate my free translation of Mahler’s remark, then please give me a better one – not a thumbs-down!
It is unthinkable that anyone would down vote your post, yet we hear excuses from US politicians everyday about the right to bear arms…blah, blah, blah…outdated constitutional rhetoric that has long outlived its original intent. Their lack of humanity and kowtowing to the religious right never ceases to astound me.
However difficult, we can’t stop opposing those politicians who refuse to impose a meaningful solution to gun violence.
Why do the parents leave a loaded gun in the house.
Who do they have a gun in the house, period, loaded or not?
Norman, thank you so much for drawing international attention to the tragic and enormous loss.
Andrija was not only pianist but a very talented composer too.
This year in March he won first place in Republic competition with the tune, Emotions (Emocije)
https://www.facebook.com/oos.vladislavribnikar/videos/165432616413944/
Children are our future.
May such things never happen again.
For all those unlucky ones, we shall never forget.
I feel so heart-broken for this wonderful little boy and his classmates.
Im andrjia mom im proud of him and i really miss him
he was my best friend