Musicians Pay Tribute to Pianist Pavel Kushnir 

Undersigned by Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, and more, the letter pays tribute to Kushnir, who died in a Russian detention center

Pianist and anti-war activist Pavel Kushnir recently passed away at age 39 in a Russian pre-trial detention center. He was detained in late May 2024 for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and died after initiating a dry hunger strike in protest of the conflict, Radio Liberty news reported. 

A criminal case was opened against Kushnir under the alleged suspicion of violence through speeches and videos he had posted on his YouTube channel.

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Kushnir had denounced Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine since 2022 on his YouTube channel. He also publicly took a stand against the conflict at a performance with the Birobidzhan Regional Philharmonic. 

In 2014, he published the novel Russkaya Nareska (“Russian Cold Cuts”), which combines war scenes and diary entries. The book was republished recently by Berlin’s ISIA Media Verlag.

Following the news of Kushnir’s death, pianist Alexander Melnikov released an open letter signed by Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Elena Bashkirova, Boris Berman, Andrey Boreyko, Yefim Bronfman, Isabelle Faust, Julia Fischer, Sol Gabetta, and Kirill Gerstein.  

More undersigned artists include Vladimir Jurowski, Igor Levit, Alexei Lubimov, Mischa Maisky, Alexander Melnikov, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emmanuel Pahud, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff, Katia Skanavi, and Andreas Staier.

Published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the letter reads:

“‘Hello! My name is Pavel Kushnir. I am a pianist by profession (I am not afraid of this word), and I work as a soloist with the Kursk Philharmonic Society.’

“This is how one of the letters by the thirty-nine-year-old pianist, writer and activist Pavel Kushnir begins, who recently died in a prison in Birobidzhan after a dry hunger strike. He was incarcerated there, awaiting trial for criticizing the Russian government's war. His crime was running a YouTube channel with five subscribers, speaking out against the war. The story of Don Quixote repeats itself, with a disastrous ending that is unfortunately more typical of life than literature.

“We are musicians too. Even though it is difficult to write, think, exist, faced with such all-encompassing evil, we must take a stand. Nothing will bring Pavel Kushnir back. We write here to remember him, and we write because of the countless unknown political prisoners in Russia, as everywhere else in the world. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Pavel's life is that we are only now realizing what a remarkable artist, writer, and thinker he was. We simply did not know him. This must remind us that the perverse "selection process" of law enforcement results in the most wonderful and fearless people being thrown in prison, often the best people of a sick nation. They have even less chance of benefiting from a prisoner exchange than the people we know from the media - but we must not forget them.

“In today's hellish kaleidoscope, amidst fake news, false morals and false values, we have become almost deaf. Then, when we suddenly hear a distant, beautiful sound that, despite its modesty, drowns out the omnipresent hellish roar and clang, we bow to those heroes and visionaries who, in their desperate loneliness, sacrifice themselves for humanity and pay the ultimate price.”