Violinist Christian Tetzlaff Withdraws U.S. Tour Dates with Concerns Over Trump's Policies

“Music sends messages about the human condition, about empathy and the heart. We have to uphold these ideals,” Tetzlaff expressed

The German violinist Christian Tetzlaff and his Tetzlaff Quartet have canceled their U.S. performances, citing concerns over President Trump’s policies, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Tetzlaff first performed in the U.S. in 1988 and has since presented around 20 engagements there annually, including at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. 

However, now increasingly troubled by Trump’s embrace of Russia, cuts to the federal workforce, and policy changes affecting marginalized communities, Tetzlaff has canceled an eight-city tour (including in New York, Connecticut, Georgia, and California) with his quartet this spring. 

“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” he told The New York Times. “I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”

In response to an inquiry from NYT on Tetzlaf’s concert cancellations in the U.S., a White House spokesperson Harrison W. Fields said: “America first.”

Tetzlaff is one of the first major foreign artists to try to use a cultural boycott to influence Mr. Trump’s policies during his second term, NYT added. Similarly, he joins American artists that have recently withdrawn their concerts at The Kennedy Center in protest of Trump policies in the arts. 

Ultimately, Tetzlaff felt the American government’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine was a major factor in his decision to cancel his concerts.

“I pay 32 percent taxes on every concert I play in the United States,” Tetzlaff explained. “That goes, at the moment, to a state that does partially horrible things with the money. And so to complain and then to say, ‘I take my money and go home’ — that’s also not good.”

However, he expressed that he would be open to performing benefit concerts in the U.S. for Ukraine or for groups that support women’s rights: “Anything that could help mend wounds in society or to help people who are being slighted now.”

Currently, Teztlaff does not perform in China and Russia — nations he has avoided due to their government policies.

On speaking to his friends and colleagues, Teztlaff said many of them disagreed with his decision, saying that music could help unite people. 

“I cannot see myself as an entertainer; it’s not our aim to please an audience so they go home and say, ‘This was a lovely evening,’ with a good glass of red wine,” Teztlaff explained. “Music sends messages about the human condition, about empathy and the heart. We have to uphold these ideals.”