Tchaikovsky Protests – 10
March 14, 2022
Oh surely you realize that a man of my sensibilities and intimate tastes could never support a beast like Vladimir Putin and his henchmen, and I’m in accord with sanctions against oligarchical money as well as Russian gas and oil and even ethnic restaurants and bars in other lands. Starve the tyrant’s war machine and bring him down. But I nearly became hysterical this morning when I learned that Britain and Japan are banning my works. I hope this is a temporary hardship of war but, even if it is, I will be even more stressed than usual until my compositions are again open to everyone around the world. Why should they not be? Are my inspiring symphonies and soothing Swan Lake and immortal Violin Concerto and classic Piano Concerto No. 1 really a boost to perpetrators of state violence? On the contrary – and I say this with appropriate humility – I along with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Rachmaninoff and countless other creative souls are expressions of Russian peace and sensitivity and the best in our land. In that spirit I offer to travel anywhere including Ukraine to conduct my works and donate all proceeds to peace and thus the extinction of those who make peace impossible.