Sixteen year old Bryan O'Lone was apparently assaulted by the 62-year-old Yelena Ivanov at the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey (Y PCNJ).  Ivanov founded the competition which takes place at Carnegie Hall every year.

O'Lone had been practicing Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 for the event, but when he arrived to perform at the competition he saw that the program said he was to play Beethoven's "Pathetique".  O'Lone reported the mistake to Yelena's daughter and Y PCNJ Executive Director, Lana Ivanov, who told him he would have to play what was in the program whether he was prepared or not.

O'Lone, who had already bested hundreds of pianists in the preliminary competitions, went to the judges who told him that he was supposed to be able to play whatever he had chosen to perform.  He took this as permission to perform his intended piece.

Shortly after he took the stage and began to play, Yelena stormed onto the stage and physically tried to remove him from the piano... slamming the keyboard lid down on his fingers in the process.  OUCH!  What an asshole!

O'Lone continued to play despite this attack and finished to a standing ovation.

Now he is suing... and more power to him.  Good luck, Bryan!

As an aside, Bryan was the competition's only African-American participant... perhaps this could be seen as a "hate-crime".

Click here to read the article at The Smoking Gun.