Things are going so wrong in the world, especially in Washington, that even the music world cries out.
President Trump is attacking the fine arts, and they are fighting back. Trump brought about a wholesale replacement of the Kennedy Center’s traditionally bipartisan board and had himself elected as president of the board.
As intended and expected, this new board of Trump people moved to change some of the Kennedy Center’s planned offerings. Many other changes resulted from the reactions of some external producers and artists. In March, the number of cancellations approached thirty; including Hamilton and Fellow Travelers, shows that would have brought big ticket sales.
For example, actress, writer, and producer Issa Rae canceled her appearance at Washington’s Kennedy Center over “an infringement of values,” after Donald Trump named himself the venue’s chairman. On February 13, Issa Rae wrote on Instagram Stories, “Unfortunately, due to what I believe to be an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums, I’ve decided to cancel my appearance at this venue.”
“This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it,” Hamilton’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, said in a joint New York Times interview with its lead producer, Jeffrey Seller. “The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We’re just not going to be part of it.”
When the opera superstar Anna Netrebko refused to denounce Russian President Putin for invading Ukraine, Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, suspended her in 2022. He argued that “with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine there was no way forward.”
Recently Gelb used the occasion of the worldwide telecast last month of the Metropolitan Opera’s Fidelio to weigh in again on dictatorial aggression, this time apparently alluding also to the current situation in the U.S.
“It’s great to have you, and welcome to all our viewers around the world. You know, in the early 1800s, when Fidelio was composed, Beethoven believed in the power of the Republic – the right of the people to govern. That’s why Fidelio, Beethoven’s opera against tyranny and about individual resistance and heroism in the face of oppression, dealt an artistic blow to Napoleon’s ambitions to be the dictator of Europe. And it’s why Fidelio is such an important opera to be performed today when the free world is under the gravest threat since World War II.
“In the great Abscheulicher! aria that Leonore – disguised as Fidelio – sings in the first act, she calls out the tyrant who has kept her husband jailed as a political prisoner, calling him a monster. And then, she sings about the power of her love to guide her fight for victory. That’s a message to dictators that rings true today.
“Great art like Fidelio is a pillar of a free and just society. At the Metropolitan Opera, in our own fight for a civilized world, we always remain committed to its values of freedom from oppression.
“My personal heroine is my wife, the conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, founder of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, who, as I speak, is crossing the Ukrainian border for the sixth or seventh time since the invasion to perform for the liberty of that heroic and embattled nation.
“So, today’s performance of Fidelio, and other acts of artistic resistance, symbolize the democratic world’s fight for its inalienable rights of justice, freedom, and democracy. It also has some of the most heroically beautiful music ever composed.”
Bravo!
