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By Vivien Schweitzer
16 Oct 2006
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| Arvo Pärt (top) and Anna Politkovskaya |
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| photo by Michael Putland (Pärt) |
Arvo Pärt will dedicate all performances of his music during the 2006-07 season to the memory of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered on October 7.
The Estonian composer said in a statement released today (and reported by Reuters), "Anna Politkovskaya gave all her talent and energy, and eventually her life, so that people would know and be aware of the appalling crimes being committed in Russia ... In my grief at such a tragic loss, I ... would like to make a memorial gesture."
Pärt has reportedly asked for all musicians performing his music to make his wish known to their audiences.
Politkovskaya, who was a vocal critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his policies in Chechnya, was shot on the stairs of her apartment building. It is widely assumed that her murder was connected to her journalistic work on the unrest in Chechnya and to her political views.
In a similar gesture, U.S. composer Steve Reich has written a tribute to Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002 in Pakistan while investigating a story on Islamic militants. The work, called Daniel Variations, will receive its U.S. premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York on October 22.
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