Elena Bashkirova Pianist biography

Vladimir Dudin Pianist Elena Bashkirova, artistic director of the Intonation festival in Berlin and the Jerusalem Festival of Chamber Music, the daughter of the famous pianist Dmitry Bashkirova, wife of maestro Daniel Barenboyma experiences quarantine in the capital of Germany. Like all musicians of the world, she abolished many performances, including Anna Netrebko’s solo concert at the Easter festival.

Today it is unclear when the first concert in the hall with the public will take place. But from May 12 to 14, the Intonation festival in the abbreviated version will be held in online broadcasts from the Jewish Museum in Berlin. From the archive of Elena Bashkirova, tell us about the self -isolation regime in Germany. Elena Bashkirova: Here from the very beginning everyone reacted very seriously, people behaved extremely responsibly.

Today, it has already been possible to somehow reduce the number of infected ones. There was no very hard quarantine, as in Italy, Spain or even Israel. You could walk. We were lucky with very good weather. Before quarantine, I dreamed of living somewhere in the city center, but today our house is on the outskirts of the city, next to the garden and the park, I turned out to be vital.

Sons next to you? Elena Bashkirova: They have their own homes, but they are in Berlin, and we can meet from time to time, walk together. And with the grandchildren, fortunately, we walk in the park opposite the house, we play football together. Do you probably reflect on why the whole world suddenly fell on such an attack to match the biblical cataclysms? Elena Bashkirova: Now it does not matter where she came from.

It is important what will happen after all this. I hate conspiracy theories, because this is the easiest way out of the situation is to look for the guilty. A much more global problem is how society will come out of isolation in a social and moral sense. Many will not be able to avoid depression, children have psychological problems, families are at risk of destruction, not to mention how many people will lose their livelihood.

It is also frightening how our cultural life will change. They stopped talking about culture, it ceased to be important so quickly. As if a person is alive with only one bread. At one time, Daniel Barenboim organized a concert in Gaza in the year - a place where no one goes of goodwill. He gathered an orchestra of 30 excellent musicians from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic, from France, Italy.

We drove for a day and a half, having managed to take our feet out in time. The day before, Ben Laden was eliminated in Pakistan, there was mourning in Gaza, the Islamists protested, the concert was threatened with a breakdown. The trip turned out to be unforgettable. The owner of the large building where the concert was held, said a phrase that was relevant today: “Thank you for bringing us a culture.

This is very important for us. We are sent food, medicines, but they do it for animals in the zoo. You brought us culture - music. This distinguishes us from animals.” Any country after destructive wars was revived only thanks to culture. Of course, you need to eat well. But what distinguishes a person is the need for culture, music - the most universal form of art that does not require translation.

This is what gives us the right to be called people. What do you say about measures to exit quarantine? Elena Bashkirova: So far, no one says anything special. Everything is discussed, but not a single person can say with all responsibility "We know how." There is no big logic, because no one was dealing with a similar phenomenon. No one can predict the consequences.

Here, let's say, they open hairdressers. But why then cannot be allowed to teach musical instruments one on one? This is much simpler and not at all dangerous. To the issue of teaching, your dad Dmitry Bashkirov is not with you now? Elena Bashkirova: Mom is with me in Berlin, and dad was left alone in a small apartment in the center of Madrid, where he taught until the last moment.

The country was closed. Dad says that Madrid looks like an extinct city. We call him constantly. He approaches what is happening philosophically. He has a wonderful assistant, devoted to him, who constantly helps. I hope that as soon as quarantine weakens, he will immediately return to teaching. And Dmitry Alexandrovich does not teach remotely? Elena Bashkirova: He belongs to that generation, among whose representatives few will be engaged online.

In addition, he is such a perfectionist, and it is impossible to engage in a real sound online. Better he will wait. But the Internet today is nevertheless - a great salvation for the majority. If not for him, many would just have gone crazy. Elena Bashkirova: Yes, fortunately. Many began to communicate with their friends more than before isolation. A friend said that every week they arrange chats with their classmates through Zoom, more than ever in life before.

For my part, I will say that there is still not enough time. I am terribly glad that I managed to save three concerts of my festival "Intonation", which will be broadcast from May 12 to 13. Concerts will be with an empty hall.Live concerts, in my opinion, are the last thing that will return after quarantine. You can only dream about this today. I would give a lot to be at a living concert again - to hear a huge orchestra, go to the opera, be surrounded by this sound again, and not look through the Internet.

But there is the Internet and thanks to him. Angel Merkel really supported freelancers? Elena Bashkirova: Yes, this is so, the state performed very powerfully, especially in culture, people received help instantly, without bureaucratic wire. In the first week of closing everything, they provided instant help to freelancers, listing thousands of euros. But this helps only for two to three months to pay for the apartment and so on, and then you need to think about further steps.

If politics and representatives of the largest corporations do not pay attention to the abandoned culture, we will very quickly turn into animals that eat, drink, sleep, propagate. Is your spouse sharing your thoughts about what is happening? Elena Bashkirova: He is very worried about the same thing as I am, that culture can remain overboard, that no one thinks about music. And a person is vital for a person.

Daniel all this time did not stop active activity. The Stiatasoper organizes programs online in alliance with the Channel "Medici" and Deutche Gramophone, where he performed solo concerts and played in chamber ensembles. I watched the concerts that Daniel held in the Bouleza Hall, where he played Beethoven's diabelli validation, Mozart's sonatas for the violin, the composition of Schuman and Chopin.

That is, he does not sit at home? Elena Bashkirova: If it remains at home, it is very productive. How does the maestro maintain contact with its orchestra? Elena Bashkirova: He is in touch with them. A program of chamber concerts has been developed, which will be broadcast through different channels. Thousands of users from around the world are watching these concerts. All musicians really want to play, torn more than ever before.

Opera soloists will also give leaders, participate in chamber ensembles. I think composers will write new music. In this sense, quarantine prompted a very interesting experiment. Now it is very important to be creative, to invent something, not to sit in a paralysis state, but in every possible way to try to find new opportunities that at first they may not bring great profit, but for the future they will become an important base for a new life.

We continue to believe in the future - and this future must be built further and believed in it.