Italy has been turned into a belligerent country against Russia, under US-NATO command. In this climate of war all concerts of Russian musicians in Italy were cancelled. We broke this "war lockdown," just as we had broken the one on the "pandemic." We formed a promoting committee and organized the concert of pianist Valentina Lisitsa, that had been canceled by La Fenice Theater in Venice.

In Milan we were refused three theaters, one after another, the last one after we had signed the contract and paid. This gives the measure of the degree of democracy that exists in Italy today. Overcoming this and other obstacles, we were able to organize the concert in a TV studio and broadcast it nationwide through the Byoblu TV channel. This entailed a much higher expense.

Valentina Lisitsa, who offered her concert completely free of charge, is not only an exceptional artist, but an exceptional person. She has put her career on the line to defend the truth about the war: the first cancellation of one of her concerts took place in Toronto in April 2015.  We invite you to watch her interview in English entitled "Valentina Lisitsa Tells Her Story”.

Written by Manlio Dinucci