{"id":26952,"date":"2015-04-06T17:02:14","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T21:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=26952"},"modified":"2015-04-15T17:12:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T21:12:56","slug":"breaking-tso-bans-upcoming-soloist-valentina-lisitsa-over-political-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/04\/06\/breaking-tso-bans-upcoming-soloist-valentina-lisitsa-over-political-views\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING | TSO Dumps Upcoming Soloist Valentina Lisitsa Over Political Views"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pro-Putin
Pro-Putin soloist Valentina Lisitsa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto \u2013 In a startling turn of events, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra\u00a0have officially cancelled the upcoming\u00a0April 8-9, 2015 appearance by\u00a0Youtube superstar pianist Valentina Lisitsa over tweets\u00a0expressing her political views:\u00a0@ValLisitsa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The young pianist was to perform over two days in Toronto as the soloist on a program including Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor\u00a0Jukka-Pekka Saraste. They have since replaced her with Toronto pianist Stewart Goodyear.<\/p>\n

This comes off the heels of another last-minute cancellation,\u00a0when the TSO announced\u00a0last week that violinist\u00a0Vilde Frang would\u00a0not be able to make it due to travel complications. The TSO replaced her with Concertmaster Jonathan Crow.<\/p>\n

Valentina Lisitsa alleges that she was shunned\u00a0by the TSO after she was accused of inciting hatred by a lobby group claiming to represent the Ukrainian community. The group allegedly contacted the TSO, and notified them of\u00a0tweets made by Valentina Lisitsa which included a tweet pertaining to the Charlie Hebdo caricatures. The TSO then opted\u00a0to cancel her appearance, to avoid any potential political controversy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying, in their own words, to teach me a lesson,\u201d Lisitsa said, \u201cthey have now attempted to silence me as a musician.\u201d<\/p>\n

As per her contract, and despite not performing, she\u00a0will be payed in full.<\/p>\n

TSO President & CEO Jeff Melanson responded by stating, \u201cDue to ongoing accusations of deeply offensive language by Ukrainian media outlets, we have decided to replace Valentina Lisitsa in our April 8 and 9 performances of Rachmaninoff\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2. Valentina Lisitsa\u2019s provocative comments have overshadowed past performances. As one of Canada\u2019s most important cultural institutions, our priority must remain on being a stage for the world\u2019s great works of music, and not for opinions that some believe to be deeply offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 6, the\u00a0TSO quickly removed\u00a0any\u00a0mention of Lisitsa from their website:<\/p>\n

\"Toronto
Toronto Symphony Orchestra event page, April 6, 2:00 p.m.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Roy Thomson Hall website<\/a>\u00a0(the venue where she\u00a0was to perform) has yet to announce the cancellation, and still lists\u00a0her as the soloist:<\/p>\n

\"Roy
Roy Thomson Hall website, April 6, 2:00 p.m.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a reaction to the cancellation, Lisitsa’s supporters\u00a0have been crying censorship, and inundating the TSO\u2019s official Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0with photos of\u00a0the pianist with tape across her mouth, captioned \u201cToronto Symphony, Let Valantina Play!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Toronto
Toronto Symphony Orchestra Facebook page screen capture: April 6, 2:45 p.m.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lisitsa has since posted a statement\u00a0on her Facebook page<\/a>, written April 6, 2015 asking fans to contact the TSO directly and express their concerns. (See below for full transcript)<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask you to raise your voice and tell Toronto Symphony that music can\u2019t be silenced. Ask them to let me play. If you want\u00a0to write something \u2013 great! Or just share a photo I made ( sorry, I made it on my phone, nothing fancy) Ask your friends to join in. If they do it once, they will do it again and again, until the musicians, artists are intimidated into voluntary censorship. Our future will be bleak if we allow this to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear fans, DEAR FRIENDS!<\/p>\n

I have a confession to make and a huge favor to ask all of you. I really REALLY need your help now.
\nBut first, my confession.<\/p>\n

Over the last year I have been leading a double life. There was me \u2013 a \u201ccelebrity\u201d pianist hopping from a concert to a concert, all over the world; learning new pieces, meeting fans, recording, chirping about my happiness in upbeat interviews.<\/em><\/p>\n

But there was another me: not a musician but a regular human being \u2013 a daughter, a mother, a wife. And this human being was watching helplessly how the country of my birth, of my childhood, of my first falling in love \u2013 this country was sliding ever faster into the abyss. Children die under bombs, old ladies die of starvation, people burned alive\u2026
\nThe worst thing that can happen to any country is fratricide war, people seeing each other, their neighbors as enemies to be eliminated. This is what has befallen my beautiful Ukraine. My heart was bleeding. You all saw on TV screens all over\u00a0the world a magnificent revolution, the people of Ukraine raising in fury against their corrupt rulers, for a better life. I was so proud of my people! But the ruling class doesn\u2019t let go easily. They managed to cunningly channel away the anger, to direct it to other, often imaginable, enemies \u2013 and worse, to turn people upon themselves. Year later, we have the same rich people remaining in power, misery and poverty everywhere, dozens of thousands killed, over a million of refugees.<\/p>\n

So, I took to Twitter ( how many of you know I have a Twitter account? LOL) under a name \u201cNedoUkra\u00efnka\u201d \u2013 a word roughly meaning \u201cSub-Ukrainian\u201d, a stab at Ukrainian Prime Minister who called Russian-speaking Southern and Eastern Ukrainians \u201cSUBHUMANS\u201d! Yes, I kid you not. In an official written document. I am a subhuman, my husband, my mom\u2026.I mastered Ukrainian language perfectly, far better than a so-called \u201cpresident\u201d of Ukraine. But I don\u2019t speak it to my family, I didn\u2019t sing lullabies to my son in Ukrainian, when I sleep I never see the dreams in Ukrainian, when I will be dying my last words will NOT be in Ukrainian\u2026.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I got carried away telling you those things\u2026 To get back to my story \u2013 I took to Twitter in order to get the other side of the story heard, the one you never see in the mainstream media \u2013 the plight of my people, the good and bad things that were happening in Ukraine. I translated news stories from Ukrainian language websites, I translated eyewitness accounts of atrocities\u2026. I became really good in unmasking fakes published by Western media in order to make one side of the civil war look whiter and softer than Easter bunny, and another \u2013 as sub-humans, not worthy of mercy, the \u201ccollateral damage.<\/p>\n

To give you just one example: one of my feats was to confront French fashion magazine \u201cElle\u201d who published a glowing cover story about women in Ukrainian army. After the research I have shown to the magazine in my Twitter posts that the \u201ccover girl\u201d they have chosen to show was in fact a horrible person, open Neo-Nazi, racist, anti-Semite who boasted of murdering civilians for fun! The magazine issued a written public apology.<\/p>\n

I was very proud! But with time my activities attracted a lot of vicious haters. I was a particularly important \u201ctarget\u201d because of being\u00a0Ukrainian, thus \u2013 a traitor. I thought I knew hate \u2013 my playing on YouTube certainly \u201cattracted\u201d a fair share of hate mail. But I was mistaken. Death threats, wishes for my family to die, calling me \u201cpaid Kremlin wh*re\u201d\u2026the list goes on and on\u00a0smile emoticon.<\/em><\/p>\n

My haters didn\u2019t stop there. Trying, in their own words, to teach me a lesson, they have now attempted to silence me as a musician.<\/p>\n

I am scheduled to play Rachmaninoff Concerto #2 with Toronto Symphony Orchestra this week. Back in December someone in the orchestra top management, likely after the pressure from a small but aggressive lobby claiming to represent Ukrainian community, has made a decision that I should not be allowed to play. I don\u2019t even know who my accusers are, I am kept in the dark about it. I was accused of \u201cinciting hatred\u201d on Twitter. As the \u201cproof\u201d , ironically enough, they presented to the orchestra my tweets containing, of all things, Charlie Hebdo caricatures depicting lying media!!! We all know what those who can\u2019t tolerate free speech did to Charlie Hebdo journalists.
\nNow, the orchestra based in one of the freest democratic countries is bending over to the same kind of people, helping them to assassinate me \u2013 not as a living person yet , but as a MUSICIAN for sure.<\/p>\n

Yes, Toronto Symphony is going TO PAY ME NOT TO PLAY because I exercised the right to free speech.
\nYes, they will pay my fee but they are going to announce that I will be unable to play and they already found a substitute<\/p>\n

And they even threatened me against saying anything about the cause of the cancellation. Seriously.
\nAnd I thought things like this only happen in Turkey to Fazil Say?
\nNow, the plea.<\/p>\n

Before you decide to help me \u2013 If you wish, please take time and read my tweets. You might find some of them offensive \u2013 perhaps. The satire and hyperbole are the best literature tools to combat the lies. Bear that in mind when reading.<\/p>\n

Here is what I ask you to do for me, and in defense of freedom even if you disagree with me on politics (LOLl!)
\nI ask you to raise your voice and tell Toronto Symphony that music can\u2019t be silenced.
\nAsk them to let me play.<\/p>\n

If you want\u00a0to write something \u2013 great!
\nOr just share a photo I made ( sorry, I made it on my phone, nothing fancy)
\nAsk your friends to join in.
\nIf they do it once, they will do it again and again, until the musicians, artists are intimidated into voluntary censorship. Our future will be bleak if we allow this to happen.
\nPlease stand with me.<\/p>\n

Here are the links :<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/torontosymphonyorchestra<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter @TorontoSymphony<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto centric classical music news and review\u00a0before your anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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