The concert of pianist Denys Matsuev was canceled in Vienna

The Konzerthaus concert hall in Vienna canceled the concert of Russian pianist Denis Matsuev scheduled for February 16. The reasons for the cancellation are not specified, however, earlier in 2022, European and American halls canceled the concerts of Matsuev and some other Russian performers who publicly supported military aggression in Ukraine.

In Vienna, the French pianist Alexander Kantorov, who condemns Russian aggression and took part in charity concerts in aid of Ukraine, will play instead of Matsuev.

A petition on the change.org site calling for the cancellation of Matsuev’s concert in Genoa in May has gathered about a thousand signatures in a short time. The Arts Against Aggression activist group also appealed to the mayor of Genoa with a demand to cancel the concert.

• In 2014, Denis Matsuev signed an open letter in support of the annexation of Crimea. Subsequently, he repeatedly expressed his approval of Vladimir Putin’s policies, including in relation to Ukraine, was a member of the initiative group to nominate Putin as a candidate for the 2018 presidential election and the working group for the preparation of amendments to the Constitution of Russia. After the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Swiss Sergei Rachmaninov Foundation expelled Matsuev from its council. In Latvia, Matsuev was declared persona non grata along with a number of other pro-Kremlin Russian cultural figures.
• In Russia, there are also cancellations of concerts by musicians who spoke out against the war in Ukraine. Earlier, the mass media reported on the existence of a list of “banned in Russia” artists who opposed the war in Ukraine. Among the “banned” artists and groups are DDT, Zemfira, Noize MC, “Splin”, “Time Machine”, “Aquarium” and others. Many of them were included by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the list of foreign agents, some left the country.