“Nikolai Igorevich Zvyagintsev … the orchestral pianist for the Donetsk Philharmonic, has been killed in the battle for Mariupol in Ukraine,” writes Sophia Alexandra Hall in Wednesday’s (4/13) Classic FM (U.K.). “The 39-year-old Ukrainian musician … was [a] classical and jazz pianist. Zvyagintsev was the leader of his own band, an artist of the Philharmonic Orchestra, part of the Septet Jazz ensemble, a participant and laureate of numerous jazz competitions and festivals, and the author of multiple pop and jazz compositions and transcriptions. In a Facebook post, the artistic director of the Donetsk Philharmonic, Alexander Paretsky described the ‘unbearable pain’ he felt after hearing the news of Zvyagintsev’s death…. Donetsk is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, 70 miles north of the port city of Mariupol. Since April 2014, both Donetsk and Mariupol have been major areas for fighting in the ongoing Donbas war…. According to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, over 21,000 of Mariupol’s citizens have been killed…. In an official statement … the Donetsk Philharmonic shared that Zvyagintsev joined the battle for Mariupol ‘to protect his native land.’ … A civil ceremony to remember Zvyagintsev took place this morning in … Donetsk.”
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