Foundation created to honour Russian pianist who died in jail during hunger strike

A group of artists have established the Pavel Kushnir Foundation and Scholarship in honour of a Russian pianist who died while on hunger strike in pretrial detention in July, Israeli event organisers Art Up have announced.

The foundation and scholarship were designed to support young musicians from Ukraine studying in musical institutions around the world, as well as those who had fled the dictatorial regimes of both Russia and Belarus, Art Up said.

The group announced its intention to raise funds to finance scholarships, partly through concerts, with the first such charity performance planned for 25 December in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Kushnir, a 39-year-old Russian pianist and blogger, died in July while on hunger strike in pretrial detention in the city of Birobidzhan in the Jewish autonomous region of Russia’s Far East. Kushnir was detained on suspicion of “inciting terrorism” for the anti-war videos he had posted to his YouTube channel, despite it having just five subscribers.

Art Up announced that Russian-born pianist Yevgeny Kisin had already agreed to join its board, and said that other leading classical musicians including Martha Argerich, Alexander Melnikov and Sir Antonio Pappano had also been invited to do so.

Kushnir, who graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and later worked for both the Kursk and Kurgan Philharmonic, joined the Birobidzhan Philharmonic as a soloist in 2023 and was working there at the time of his arrest.

“His name should not be forgotten. Death and oblivion can only be opposed by life and memory,” the founders said in their statement.