50 years ago to the day I left Russia in search of freedom. I was able to take my music scores with me, amongst which were creations of Shostakovich. How symbolic it is then that the 5th Symphony of Shostakovich is featured on the program of tonight’s concert at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw which I shall perform with the Czech Philharmonic. Every celebration carries a certain ambiguity between hope and memory. While hope for a better world remains against all odds for as long as we live, memory serves as a reminder by pointing out where we were then and where we are today.
50 years ago I was confronted with the need to be free from dictatorship and, distancing myself from all those dear to me who had supported and accompanied me in the early stage of my life’s journey was the price to pay. Today the confrontation between life and death is even starker than it was half a century ago. The fight for our most fundamental human values, now being assaulted by the evil of fascism has reached a point that none of us previously experienced. The music of Shostakovich who passed away 50 years ago resonates today as it did in his own time, bringing through sounds both the attack on the human spirit and its capacity to overcome.