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B\u00e9la Fleck is the latest artist to pull out of an upcoming performance at the Kennedy Center<\/a> in the wake of Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s controversial takeover<\/a>. The Grammy-winning banjoist was scheduled to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra in February, but announced last night that he has cancelled.<\/p>\n \u201cI have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center,\u201d Fleck wrote on social media. \u201cPerforming there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music.\u00a0I look forward to playing\u00a0with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleck\u2019s cancellation comes only days after Stephen Schwartz, the celebrated Oscar-winning composer behind\u00a0Wicked\u00a0<\/em>and other hit musicals, pulled out<\/a> of a scheduled appearance at the\u00a0Kennedy Center\u00a0in protest of Trump\u2019s takeover\u00a0of the institution and its\u00a0legally dubious<\/a>\u00a0name change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Schwartz was set to host the Washington National Opera Gala at the Kennedy Center on May 16, but in an email sent to\u00a0Newsday<\/a><\/em>, said the Center \u201cno longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be.\u201d He added: \u201cThere\u2019s no way I would set foot in it now.\u201d<\/p>\n Many artists have canceled shows at the Kennedy over the past year. The first round was in protest of Trump\u2019s moves in early 2025 to gut the Center\u2019s board, fill it with cronies, and install himself as chairman. At the end of last year, another group of artists nixed shows after Trump\u2019s board unanimously voted to change the institution\u2019s name to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n Cancellations following the name change included the Kennedy Center\u2019s\u00a0annual Christmas Eve Jazz Jam<\/a>, as well as shows by the New York Dance Company, the jazz band the Cookers, jazz musician Wayne Tucker, and folk singer Kristy Lee. Chuck Redd, who\u2019s led the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam since 2006, explained in a statement, \u201cWhen I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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