KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, January 10, 21:49 /ITAR-TASS/. Denis Matsuev, an internationally acclaimed Russian pianist, has given a series of charity concerts in the Russian Far East hit by destructive floods in the summer of 2013.
On Thursday, Matsuev performed in the city of Khabarovsk and on Friday he appeared in front of the audiences of the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the second-largest industrialized populated locality in the Khabarovsk territory.
Invitations to attend the performances were sent out to local residents staying in the temporary accommodation shelters, to students at local music schools and colleges as well as to the rescuers eliminating the aftermaths of the unparalleled calamity. Matsuev treated these audiences to his well-known repertoire of Joseph Haydn’s and Robert Schumann’s piano pieces.
After the concert, the five-million-rouble box-office receipts were transferred to the accounts of culture establishments in the Primorsky /Maritime/ territory.
The pianist, who is known for his versatility and unconventional approach to classics, was born in Irkutsk, a Siberian city about 4,200 km east of Moscow and over 2,200 km to the west of Komsomolsk-on Amur. He regards the tragedy in the Far East as his personal grief and that is why the beneficiary concerts in the floods-hit Far Eastern cities come forward as his personal contribution to overcoming the aftermaths of the devastating floods.
Classical music should become a source of positive emotion and energy so much needed by people in distress, the pianist said promising to play concerts here in the first days of each next new year.
These benefit concerts for flood-stricken residents in the country’s regions are not the first actions of this kind on Matsuev’s work schedule.
The first charity action titled ‘Let’s help Primorye’ was a concert at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on October 21 when Matsuev performed with the Evgeny Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra. The concert heralded in the special charity projects, which the Russian Culture Ministry initiated for helping people affected by the natural calamity in the Far Eastern regions.
“This is not only an emotional and musical message, but also an opportunity to provide real financial support,” Matsuev told Itar-Tass then. “My first performance tour took place exactly 20 years ago and the Far East was my destination then. I remember all these cities, which were affected by the floods in 2013 -- Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk. I remember people who came to my concerts.”
The pianist added that he himself was born in Siberia. “I felt really upset about residents of Primorye when I learned about their troubles,” he said.