Bluegrass and jazz musician Bela Fleck announced earlier this week that he is canceling a series of appearances at the Kennedy Center in the wake of changes
In a post on Instagram, the renowned banjo player announced that he has canceled three scheduled performances with the National Symphony Orchestra in February.
“I have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center.” Fleck wrote. “Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music.
“I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”
In response, Richard Grenell, the current Kennedy Center president, wrote on X, “You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties. This mob pressuring you will never be happy until you only play for Democrats.
“The Trump Kennedy Center believes all people are welcome — Democrats and Republicans and people uninterested in politics. We want performers who aren’t political — who simply love entertaining everyone regardless of who they voted for,” Grenell wrote.
The orchestra’s principal clarinetist, Lin Ma, will replace Fleck at the concerts, according to the New York Times.
In a statement sent to the Times, Fleck said, “It has become less and less a musically and artistically based situation and more of a highly politicized and divisive one. This pushes against the deepest motivations of why I want to be a musician.
“I also am cognizant that not performing punishes the symphony for something they have nothing to do with, which is why it has taken me a while to decide what to do here,” he added.
Fleck is not the only performer to cancel in the wake of the center’s board voting to add President Trump’s name to the venue. Other cancelations include Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, Rhiannon Giddens, the jazz group The Cookers, jazz musician Chuck Redd, and a touring production of “Hamilton.”
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