Classics 2012-2013 Biographies - The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

A Poet’s Inspiration
Fri, Nov. 2, 10:30am
Sat, Nov. 3, 8pm
JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, honored guest
Michael Boriskin, piano
Mikhail Svetlov, bass
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No. 2
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.13, “Babi Yar”
YYEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO
“Morality is a sister of conscience. And perhaps God is with Yevtushenko when he speaks of conscience. Every morning, in place of
prayers I reread or repeat by memory two poems by Yevtushenko “ Career” or “boots”.-­‐ Dmitri Shostakovich 1961
“…One of Russia’s most adventurous writers for more than 30 years”-­‐ Arthur Miller 1990
“In my mind he is one of the true heroes of the entire soviet period”-­‐ Norman Mailer 1991
“Yevtushenko is clearly a figure of important international stature. It is rare for someone who is so talented and famous at an early
age to sustain his career.”-­‐ James Billington, Librarian of Congress 1991
“Today you recited your poetry at my home touching me and all my guests to tears with obvious proof of your talent. I am sure in
your bright future.” Autograph on his book-­‐gift to Yevtushenko – Boris Pasternak, 1959
It is difficult to find another writer who did so much for mutual understanding between America and Russia than Yevtushenko. He
was inspired in his childhood by the historical encounter of American and Russian soldiers on the river Elbe in May 1945. He was
the first Russian poet who promoted in the worst days of the Cold War the spirit of Elbe and condemned all efforts to resurrect
Cold War between USA and USSR.
He was called by the American media as the Russian mixture of Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan. Yevtushenko first came to the
United States as a tourist in the 1960’s. In his warm and heartfelt poem, “American Nightingale”, Yevtushenko wrote lines symbolic
about the role of poets in the contemporary world, “All Nightingales will understand each other-­‐ they all share the same language…
and than why can’t we, people, understand each other?” His first reading in America in 1961 was in Harvard for a small audience of
post-­‐graduate students and a few young future professors, one of them was Albert Todd who became his close friend and
translator. He promised Yevtushenko to organize a giant tour across America and a reading in Madison Square Garden.
When Yevtushenko returned to Russia he published his thunderous poem “Babi Yar” against anti-­‐Semitism breaking a conspiracy of
silence in USSR. Soon afterwards the Great Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich created his famous 13 th symphony based on five
of Yevtushenko’s poems. Since that time Yevtushenko’s young voice became an alarming trumpet against all attempts of neo-­‐
Stalinism and any restrictions of freedom. Suddenly Yevtushenko found himself under attacks from Soviet officials and his planned
tour was canceled. In 1961, Time magazine published a cover story about Yevtushenko. Albert Todd was stubborn and insistent
and in 1966 he finally organized this tour with the help of invitations from 27 American Universities. Yevtushenko successfully
toured across America. He was received by Senator Robert Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Secretary of the United Nations U
Tan and many other leading political figures. Yevtushenko was befriended by Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, John Steinbeck, Arthur
Miller, John Updike, Richard Wilbur, Stanley Kuntz, Allen Ginsburg, James Dickey, John Cheever, Edward Albee, John Updike,
Harrison Salisbury, Art Buchwald, Leonard Bernstein, Louis Armstrong, Michael Nichols, Stanley Kramer, Ben Shahn, and Edward
Steichen and at that time a young promising professor James Billington, afterwards Librarian of Congress.
During Yevtushenko’s next trip in 1972, by invitation of Double Day publishing house, Albert Todd finally fulfilled his promise.
Yevtushenko made an unprecedented poetry concert in Madison Square Garden. It was overcrowded. The performance was a
manifestation of international brotherhood between Russian and American poets. Yevtushenko was always a poet of love and
protest, glorifying everything great in his motherland or abroad and protesting against all cruelties and human tragedies, including
war in Vietnam or the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia.
“I would like happiness but not at the expense of the unhappy, and I would like freedom, but not at the expense of the unfree”.
During Perestroika Yevtushenko became, together with Sakharov, one of the most popular members of Russian Parliament
because he fought against war in Afghanistan and for the creation Democracy. In 1991 during the attempt of coup de etat
Yevtushenko recited his poetry before 200,000 defenders of freedom. Later on he received the American Liberties Medal-­‐ the