German violinist Christian Tetzlaff cancels a spring tour with his quartet to protest Trump administration policies, particularly the US treatment of Ukraine
The renowned German violinist Christian Tetzlaff has abruptly cancelled a spring tour of the US with his string quartet. The announcement was made following news of the White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday 28 February.
Citing concerns over Trump’s policies – particularly his stance on Russia – Tetzlaff remarked in an interview with The New York Times: ’There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on. I feel utter anger… I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts’.
Tetzlaff emphasised that he was especially distraught by the US government’s new stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The violinist pointed out that since each concert he plays in the US is taxed at 32%, he cannot condone in good conscience the proceeds going to a regime that is doing ’horrible things with the money’. Tetzlaff also avoids performing in China and Russia in response to their governments’ respective policies.
The Tetzlaff Quartet had been scheduled to launch its eight-city spring tour in San Francisco on 21 March, including a date at Carnegie Hall on 27 March. The New York Times stated that Tetzlaff was ’also likely to cancel his engagements planned this summer and fall in the US’ but ’would be open to performing benefit concerts in the US for Ukraine or for groups that support women’s rights’. (His solo appearances in the Brahms Concerto with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra lined up for 12 and 13 April remained listed on the orchestra’s website as of this posting.)
In recent weeks, several prominent US artists – including soprano Renée Fleming – have cancelled appearances at or associations with the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, following Trump’s takeover of the institution. Tetzlaff is ’one of the first major foreign artists to try to use a cultural boycott’ to protest his administration’s policies, according to The New York Times.
’Music sends messages about the human condition, about empathy and the heart,’ Tetzlaff said. ’We have to uphold these ideals.’
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