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Internationally renowned pianist Edisher Savitski will play a charity concert in Kyiv in spirit of cultural diplomacy in order to raise funds for the needs of the National Military Medical Clinical Center “Main Military Clinical Hospital” of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The raised money will be used to purchase ophthalmic kits for surgical treatments of eye injuries. “It is a charity concert for the people who were hurt defending the values that are important to all of us. We will raise funds for ophthalmic kits. They cost 25 to 30 thousand hryvnias. I hope people will come to the concert and support this initiative to help the wounded soldiers. I want to give the opportunity to hear my music to those who cannot see. This is very important, and I hope that my friends will also arrive in Ukraine to help those who have suffered over these years,” he said at a press briefing held at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Edisher Savitski, American pianist of Georgian origin, is known to the audiences of Carnegie Hall, La Scala Theater and Great Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Music, the University of Alabama. Dr. Savitski was the first winner of the III International Piano E-Competition in 2006 and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2001, won top honors at the First International Piano E-Competition in Minneapolis and the William C. Byrd International Piano Competition in Michigan.
Edisher Savitski was born in Tbilisi. Although he has been living in the US for 19 years, he closely monitors events in Georgia and Ukraine. “We are well aware of what it means when your country is in trouble and when the ‘good neighbor’ takes your land from you and does not allow you to live as you see right. […] Of course, every conflict does no good. But we should defend our values. I think we all have to defend our positions so that the other party should understand that these values really make sense, and they are more powerful and civilized,” he noted. According to him, although ordinary people in the US are aware of the situation, it is mostly routine and distant problem for them. “I would like people to take more principled stands and act more radically. We should always remember about Ukraine and of Georgia. Recently, I do not hear many serious talks about Georgia, although 20% of its territory remains occupied. We should not wait for politicians to invent something, because we are representing the country and defend our values. We should do everything that depends on us, and always talk about it. Society in different countries should act quickly so that we can overcome obstacles we are facing,” noted Mr. Savitski.
Edisher Savitski will play Haydn F-major sonata, Prokofiev 2nd sonata and Chopin 3rd sonata at the concert. The concert will take place May 18 at the National Music Academy of Ukraine named after Tchaikovsky (Architect Gorodetskyi Street, 1-3 / 11) at 19-00. Among the guests are ATO veterans, deputies of Ukraine, the Presidential Administration leadership, Government, diplomatic corps and representatives of the media.
Besides, under favorable conditions a master class for Ukrainian students will be conducted on the morning of the May 19. The final information on it will be available soon on Facebook page of Ukraine Crisis Media Center.