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1942-2012, icon of classical pianism. I was fortunate enough to have heard you once in Carnegie Hall. You will be missed.

Oh no!!!!

BTW, are you sure?? I'm not finding anything about it online.

It's still unofficial. It looks like the news can be traced back to the following tweet:

http://twitter.com/#!/dowwhiz/status/188050081658830848

But that tweet seems legit.

There's nothing on this anyway - not even the French and Italian News services!

Yes, absolutely legit. But I wouldn't have viewed it as meaning that he has died.

Here's what it says:

"My brilliant Uncle Maurizio Pollini, music master, is now in his final repose. Please pray for him."

It happened about an hour ago near Milan - but for sure. A mentor close to Pollini's let me know. Give it another few hours. Pollini's nephew is a major US arts advocate and has tweeted about it - there are several tweets about it, one from his nephew:

https://twitter.com/#!/marksask/status/188055101280239616

https://twitter.com/#!/dowwhiz/status/188050081658830848

OpusMaximus: Check the post above yours.

The one saying that he died could be a misinterpretation of the thing by the nephew.

very sad...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cxkLZoEFEk

Please, please, hold your horses till we find out for sure.....

I think Mark's right: this by itself isn't evidence. The first tweet cites the second in his twitter feed, and the second could just mean "on his death bed".

But if you've heard from someone directly there... that's different, and I believe you.

I just hope it isn't true... The Wikipedia usually updates these things pretty quick, and his death is not mentioned there...

I tried a couple of newspapers in Milan, and queried CNN, and yes, Wiki. No news at this time, and since so far no one can verify the report even once (two or three sources are preferred for modern-day broadcast news), it truly would seem premature. Quite possibly it is not too late to send best wishes and good thoughts for his recovery from the illness which made him cancel the rest of the concert series.

There is room to hope for the best in this situation.

Here it says very clearly "vivente". Maybe there is still hope...

Opus: Are you still sure??
You didn't really say exactly what your source was, unless it was just the two links that you gave. Was one of those the "mentor close to Pollini"? If it was, then I think we have to say that we don't really know. If you realize that your posts may have been in error, better to say so, as soon as possible -- and possibly to ask the site to delete the erroneous posts or at least to change the title of this thread.

I don't see the reason to be really anxious in order to morn the death of someone. We can wait for everything to be (sadly) confirmed and then we can morn his loss... But until then it simply means that it's premature. Passing the news of someone's death is not a race, is it? And PianoWorld is not a news agent...

For the record I've starting seeing stuff in facebook, but it all seems a bit sketchy at best...

Absolutely. Many people are eager to be the first to break any major news, but for a death, I think most people would agree it's more important to be sure -- absolutely sure -- than to be first.

On the day of the Gaby Giffords shooting, at one point the media reported that she had died. One outlet broke the "news," and then many others followed. It wasn't long before they retracted it, but that was an awfully bad f___-up.

WHAT?????????????? Someone had better be DAMNED sure, before posting such a thing!!! I've often said there is far too much incredibly bad information thrown about on this forum and this would be a classic example.

How do you know that this person is Pollini's nephew?

Shouldn't we change the title of the thread or at least add a question mark to it, since there has been no announcement? Pianists on twitter like Kyrill gerstein and Nicholas Hodges are "saying" that they have confirmation from his agent (Resia) that he is well and "studying" (which is odd since his cancellations are solidly true, though the reason given ie illness may not be). Others are saying that his agent at DG confirmed that the man is alive.
How despicable it is for someone to purposefully initiate a false rumor such the premature death of an older person thought ot be ill! ( I do not mean Opus but whomever out there started this).