In a very personal gesture, Nigel Kennedy, the aged British boy violin virtuoso, has flown to Belgrade at his own expense to give without any fee, a concert tonight with the Belgrade Philharmonic to the people of Serbia, at a special price of about 1 pound per ticket. It quickly sold out.
He said he had given concerts in aid of Kosovo refugees and he wanted to make a gesture to Serb people rather than their government.
Exactly what he means by it, and how it will be received and by which groups, is hard to guess but it may communicate more than many formal political gestures.
Nigel Kennedy was part of the mass popularisation of classical music in Britain in the last 15 years. He has it seems deliberately retained a non-middle class hair style and accent. In more recent years he fell off the top niche of the capitalist mass market in classical music. It looks like a very democratic initiative.
Chris Burford
London