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Star Violinist To Protest Russia's Rights Record


Violinist Gidon Kremer performing in Moscow in 2011
Violinist Gidon Kremer performing in Moscow in 2011
Organizers say that star violinist Gidon Kremer has asked several of the greatest names in classical music to perform a concert with him in Berlin to draw attention to the human rights situation in Russia.

The 66-year-old Latvian violinist is planning a concert titled "To Russia with Love" in Berlin on October 7.

INTERVIEW: Why Russia's Opposition Must Be Bold, Even In Starting Small

He has invited Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, Israeli-Argentinian conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, and German cellist Nicholas Altstaedt to join him and his chamber orchestra, Kremerata Baltica.

The concert is to be held at Berlin's Philharmonic Hall.

"It's like it was in the Soviet Union, but...with different methods and not as draconian as in [Josef] Stalin's time," Kremer recently told the German daily "Die Welt" about the rights situation in Russia.

Based on reporting by AFP and artsjournal.com

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

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