Contact: Elaine Monaghan, [email protected], 202.776.7700, 202.805.3463
(NEW YORK) – Madonna will introduce Masha and Nadya, two members of Russia’s Pussy Riot art collective, full names Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, at Amnesty International’s Bringing Human Rights Home concert taking place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday February 5, it was announced today by Amnesty International.
“I am honored to introduce my fellow freedom fighters Masha and Nadya from Pussy Riot. I have admired their courage and have long supported their commitment and the sacrifices they have made in the name of freedom of expression and human rights,” commented Madonna.
Tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster for $35, $45 and $65 including fees. Confirmed acts include Imagine Dragons, The Flaming Lips, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tegan and Sara, The Fray, Cold War Kids, Colbie Caillat and Cake. Masha and Nadya were imprisoned for their participation in the Pussy Riot art collective. Hundreds of thousands of online actions by Amnesty International supporters helped bring about their freedom.
Madonna, a longstanding defender of the Pussy Riot art collective’s right to speak out in defiance of restrictions in their homeland, is part of a star-studded tradition of prominent artists using the power of music to articulate their support for human rights on behalf of Amnesty International.
Between 1986 and 1998, Amnesty International held 28 concerts around the world with over 1.25 million attendees. The most high-profile component of the concert series was the six-week, five-continent, 20-concert “Human Rights Now!” world tour in 1988 – headlined by Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. Those concerts directly helped triple the movement’s worldwide membership and mobilize a generation of human rights activists.
More information on the upcoming concert can be found at https://www.amnestyusa.org/Feb5concert. Follow #AmnestyConcert for live updates.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.