I was really happy to be able to find time during my concert tour through Germany to come to Belarus for a day. As Alexander Blok said, " And endless battle! We only dream of peace ", so I decided to use my day off to perform a recital in Minsk. I once again was absolutely amazed by this country, this public. The concert, which was held in the Palace of the Republic, with an audience of 3,000 people, became incredibly strong and vivid impression of the day. Actually, I should say that Belarus is striking in its purity, hospitality and the amazing kindness of the people who live here, and today the atmosphere at the concert, despite the enormity of the hall and the presence of 3,000 people, was quite extraordinary, fascinating. "Understanding" silence during rests (and it is very rare and very expensive experience for any performer) struck me in the heart, because the audience here is just great in all respects: dear, sensitive, intelligent and very thoughtful. Particularly poignant these “understanding pauses” are heard in the works of Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, which I played this evening. I'm really happy that I came here. And once again I thought that I should visit Belarus more often and start to do interesting projects, primarily associated with the young generation of musicians. ...

My Concert Tour in Germany has started. I am going to visit Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Bremen, Berlin, Munich. Every time I come to this country I can’t help mentioning the fact, that almost all German cities and even small towns have very good professional concert halls. That fascinates and pleases me. ...

Two days in a row, 12 hours each day – shooting of New Year Celebration Concert on Kultura TV-channel, yesterday - concert in Mariinka (St.Petersburg) and recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano concerto #1 till 2 o’clock in the morning. Today – heading to Singapore, flight time – 12 hours. See you soon! ...

Today we are opening the season with "the Israeli-Siberian" orchestra, it is fair to call it so, because it is still fresh in memory how IPO came to Irkutsk for participation in the festival "Stars on Baikal". That was a great event not only for Irkutsk, but the whole of Russia, as well as the diving of Maestro Meta in the waters of lake Baikal. ...

Yesterday absolutely unusual improvised concert took place. I repeat time after time that the best concert always is based on improvisation, and this concert was a proof of that. Unexpectedly I found myself in Drvengrad, cultural oasis, created by the efforts of one man - Emir Kusturica. He really managed to create his own planet of art, which attracts creative people from all over the world. I experienced emotional upheaval of what I saw here. Every detail in this village is somehow connected to work and life of Kusturica. There is a street of Fellini and a street of Diego Maradona. The wooden town almost all is the scenery for the movie "Life is a Miracle," which was filmed here. Wooden, very picturesque, in folk style huts. It is a unique ethno village, that makes a strong impression on every visitor. ...

Please, forgive me for keeping silence these days: I was under the impression from what happened here. I am in Sochi from the day of the opening of the Olympic games. I am overwhelmed with emotions right now, and I want to talk about what I see here. ...

I want to congratulate everyone on the New Year and merry Christmas! For me, these celebrations this year were especially touching, because I for the first time in 21 years, celebrated them at home in Irkutsk. Christmas meetings were warm in all respects. ...

In the evening I performed a concert with the famous Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and a brilliant maestro Mariss Jansons, its chief conductor for many years already. ...