“I do not want to be spared of the troubles which Israeli musicians encounter…”
By Tom Gross, Mideast Dispatch, December 05, 2013
While some other leading artists are calling for a boycott of Israel, I can now reveal that Evgeny Kissin, generally regarded as one of the world’s greatest living pianists, will on Saturday take Israeli citizenship.
Unlike some Israeli musicians, Evgeny Kissin, who was born in Russia and has in recent years resided in London and Paris, is fiercely proud of being Jewish and of the Jewish state. On Saturday evening at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim arts center in Jerusalem, he will receive his Israeli passport from another prominent Soviet-born Jew, Natan Sharansky (who, of course, spent years in solitary confinement in the gulag for saying he wanted to live in freedom).
Evgeny will give a recital next Monday at Binyanei Ha’Uma, Jerusalem’s largest indoor venue. Evgeny is long-standing subscriber to this email list, as well as being a personal friend of mine. He has asked for his original statement, made when he started the process of applying for Israeli citizenship two years ago, to now be made public, so journalists and others subscribing to this list can read it.
In it, he says:
“I am a Jew, Israel is a Jewish state – and since long ago I have felt that Israel, although I do not live there, is the only state in the world with which I can fully identify myself, whose case, problems, tragedies and very destiny I perceive to be mine.
“If I, as a human being and artist represent anything in the world, it is my Jewish people, and therefore Israel is the only state on our planet which I want to represent with my art and all my public activities, no matter where I live.
“When Israel’s enemies try to disrupt concerts of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra or the Jerusalem Quartet, I want them to come and make troubles at my concerts, too: because Israel’s case is my case, Israel’s enemies are my enemies, and I do not want to be spared of the troubles which Israeli musicians encounter when they represent the Jewish State beyond its borders.
“I have always deeply despised chauvinism and have never regarded my people to be superior to other peoples; I feel truly blessed that my profession is probably the most international one in the world, that I play music created by great composers of different countries, that I travel all over the world and share my beloved music with people of different countries and nationalities – but I want all the people who appreciate my art to know that I am a Jew, that I belong to the People of Israel. That’s why now I feel a natural desire to travel around the world with an Israeli passport.”
Thank you, Ted, for posting this article and the audio clip. Fantastic!
Kissin has the same “Russian style” as Svjatoslav Richter of long ago, joining incredible virtuosity to the romantic touch.
After Horowitz and Rubinstein, I am so glad to see the Jewish pianistic torch of excellence passed on to Kissin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnWDTqJCXhw
Carnegie Hall Opening Night 1995. Tchaikocsky: Piano Concerto No.1 piano Evgeny Kissin, Conductor: Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra. Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin born in Russia 10 October 1971. Kissin is a Russian classical pianist. He first came to international fame as a child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Franz Liszt.Kissin was born in Moscow to a Russian Jewish family. Recognized as a child prodigy, at age six, he began piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children. At the school, he became a student of Anna Kantor, who remained Kissin’s only piano teacher. At the age of ten, Kissin made his debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with the Ulyanovsk Symphony Orchestra. The year after that he gave his first recital in Moscow. Kissin’s talents were revealed on the international scene in 1984, at the age of twelve, when he played and recorded both of Chopin’s piano concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. Kissin’s first appearances outside Russia were in 1985 in Eastern Europe, followed a year later by his first tour of Japan. In 1987 he made his West European debut at the Berlin Festival as well as his United Kingdom debut, alongside conductor Valery Gergiev and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival. In 1988 he toured Europe with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov and also made his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. In December of the same year he played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve Concert which was broadcast internationally, with the performance repeated the following year at the Salzburg Easter Festival. In September 1990, Kissin made his debut in North America playing Chopin’s two piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the first piano recital in Carnegie Hall’s centennial season. In 1997, he gave the first solo piano recital in the history of The Proms in London.