The Sergey Rachmaninov Foundation, which oversees events at the Senar Villa where the composer lived, has announced that Denis Matsuev is no longer a member of the Advisory Board. This is reported by the site Classical Music News with reference to the Swiss newspaper Luzerner Zeitung. Thus, the fund, according to its president Urs Ziswiler, distanced itself from Russian citizens associated with the special operation carried out by Russia in Ukraine.
Artist Sergey Bezrukov tried to protect Matsuev in his telegram channel, writing: “Denis Matsuev is a great musician, and to suspend his membership in the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation after everything he has done for him is blatant stupidity. This fund was created by the composer's grandson, Alexander, who appreciated Matsuev's talent so highly that he even entrusted him with recording previously unpublished unknown works by Sergei Vasilyevich directly on the composer's piano at Villa Senar. And, of course, you need to know with what trepidation Matsuev himself treats Rachmaninov's music and with what dedication he always performs it. It is interesting that Rachmaninoff himself never renounced his homeland and tried to recreate Russian nature in Villa Senar. Moreover, when the Great Patriotic War began, Rachmaninoff donated one of his fees to support the Soviet army. I am sure that if he or at least his grandson were alive, Denis Matsuev would have remained in his place and would have organized many more wonderful events”.