Vassily Primakov on the role of the arts

“[Art] certainly takes us some place unobtainable. We can go on to say that it enriches our lives – as it has my own. There are many classical musicians I’ve met who are, in my opinion, snobs. They are only involved in certain types of music, seeing nothing beyond ‘classical music’. I think this is a mistake. I think that we should be able to appreciate Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, etc. It should enrich our view of music. We should not be so narrow-minded about music. We all need to know what is going on around us, and by listening to some of these things, I can appreciate more about what I do and the music that I deal with.”

– Vassily Primakov, Russian pianist.

Cited in: “Interview with pianist Vassily Primakov”, Examiner, 6 January 2012. http://www.examiner.com/article/interview-with-pianist-vassily-primakov Accessed 29 March 2013.

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