One of the great young pianists of the world opened his concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall with a performance of “HaTikvah” (The Hope), Israel’s national anthem.

Kevin Chen, 18, who won first prize at the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv this year, in addition to having won first prize at the (Concours de Genève, the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest, Hungary and first prize in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, was scheduled to play Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major, Op. 35, No. 6, Twelve Etudes By Frederic Chopin, Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 7, Op. 64, “White Mass,” and Liszt’s Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este and Réminiscences de Norma.

Chen, who has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Camerata, according to Canada’s National Arts Centre. Chen is also a composer, has performed with a range of other orchestras and won numerous awards.

Watch: Kevin Chen opens his concert at @carnegiehall with Hatikva, Israel’s anthem, paying tribute to the Israeli victims murdered and those who are being held hostage by Hamas.

Thank you. pic.twitter.com/kQzfagaqK0

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 20, 2023

To see the staggering talent of the young pianist, watch his performance here, from the Rubenstein competition:

The Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition originated in 1973. The legendary pianist himself attended the first two competitions. Numerous international stars have won the competition.

The English lyrics to “HaTikvah” are:

As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,
With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,
Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope – will not be lost: To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

The lyrics were adapted from the poem, “Tikvateynu” (“Our Hope”) written in 1877 by poet Naphtali Herz Imber.  In 1944, Czech Jews spontaneously sang “HaTikvah” at the entry to the Auschwitz-Birkenau gas chamber and were beaten by SS guards, according to a Sonderkommando at the camp. “Their voices grew subdued and tense, their movements forced, their eyes stared as though they had been hypnotized… Suddenly a voice began to sing. Others joined in, and the sound swelled into a mighty choir. They sang first the Czechoslovak national anthem and then the Hebrew song ‘Hatikvah,’” he recalled.

A BBC recording recorded five days after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp  Bergen-Belsen showed Jewish survivors singing the anthem.

The song became Israel’s unofficial national anthem when Israel was reestablished in 1948.

Israel announced that it would remove all references to far-Left climate activist Greta Thunberg from its curriculum after she was accused of siding with Palestinian terrorists in social media posts late last week.

The posts from Thunberg come after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,400 people in Israel two weeks ago in an unprecedented attack that has permanently altered the region.

“Week 270,” Thunberg posted on X. “Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.”

People in the photo held signs that said, “Free Palestine” and “Climate Justice Now!” while Thunberg held a sign that said, “Stand With Gaza.” The “Climate Justice Now!” is a reference to far-Left demands to “decolonize” lands from their supposed “oppressors,” which in this case, according to the far-Left, is Israel.

Thunberg included a light blue stuffed octopus in the photo, which is a reference to anti-Semitic imagery that has long been used to demonize the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization responsible for the murder of 1,400 innocent Israelis, including children, women, and the elderly, and it has abducted over 200 people to Gaza,” Israel’s Education Ministry said. “This stance disqualifies her from being an educational and moral role model, and she is no longer eligible to serve as an inspiration and educator for Israeli students.”

Thunberg said in a follow-up post that she had no idea the stuffed animal in the photo, when combined with expressing support for the group of people who had just committed terrorist attacks against Israel, could “be interpreted as a symbol for antisemitism.”

“I was completely unaware…” she said, adding that the stuffed animal was used by “autistic people as a way to communicate feelings.”

Thunberg previously wore a shirt reportedly expressing support for far-Left “antifa” extremists and later, after facing backlash, claimed that she had no idea what the shirt meant and that she did not support violence.

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Thunberg reposted the tweet with a different photo that included the hashtag “FridaysForFuture,” a far-Left anti-fossil fuel organization that has called for the elimination of Israel.

Thunberg also urged her millions of followers to follow numerous organizations that have good-sounding names but have been accused of being anti-Semitic under the surface and, in many cases, support eliminating Israel, including Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, and IfNotNow.

The Jerusalem Post added that Thunberg faced intense criticism from hundreds of Israeli climate activists over her posts.

Some signed onto a letter that said they were “deeply hurt, shocked and disappointed with your tweets and posts regarding Gaza, which are appallingly one-sided, ill-informed, superficial and are in complete contrast to your ability to deep dive into details and get to the bottom of complex issues.”

They said she sided “with terrorists, with the worst and darkest representatives of humans, and plainly – with the wrong side of history.”