Foreign musicians cancel U.S. performances in protest of Trump: L.A. arts and culture this week
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Hungarian-born pianist András Schiff announced last week that he was canceling all of his upcoming U.S. performances for the 2025-26 season “due to the recent and unprecedented political changes in the United States.”
His choice to avoid American soil in protest of what has been unfolding under the Trump administration was not without precedent. In late February, German violinist Christian Tetzlaff returned to Berlin after a performance in Chicago and told the New York Times that while in America he felt “like a child watching a horror film.” He then proceeded to cancel an eight-city U.S. tour with his eponymous quartet, including a stop at Irvine Barclay Theatre in Orange County, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, which is experiencing its own form of Trump-induced trauma.
Schiff also had a Southern California stop on his schedule —at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that it would replace him at a later date on the calendar with Yefim Bronfman. Schiff’s statement about his U.S. boycott was unequivocal in its admonition of current America politics.
“Some people might say, ‘Just shut up and play.’ I cannot, in good conscience, do that,” he wrote. “We do not live in an ivory tower where the arts are untouched by society. Arts and politics, arts and society are inseparable. Therefore, as artists, we must react to the horrors and injustices of this world. Have we learned nothing from the course of history — as recently as Europe in the 1930s? Perhaps not.”
More cancellations are sure to come, both for political reasons and because artist visas may be much harder to come by under the current administration. Extreme visa fee hikes had been implemented before Trump took office, and difficulties facing visiting artists are only accelerating. Scrutiny about who enters the country is increasing, and procedural delays are becoming common as the federal workforce is decimated under Elon Musk’s DOGE.
At the end of February, the U.S. government ordered a visa ban on transgender athletes wanting to enter the U.S. for sports events, and it could only be a matter of time until such a ban extends to others seeking entrance, including artists.
These types of discriminatory policies, along with Trump’s bullying antics toward traditional allies like Canada and Mexico are also chilling tourism in general. According to the research firm Tourism Economics, visits to the U.S. are expected to decline by 5.1% this year, resulting in a $64-billion loss for the domestic tourism industry. Surely a lot of those tourists attend Broadway shows and other arts and culture events on their vacations, school trips and business visits.
As the age of Trump roars on, our country may find itself losing much of what has made it colorful, whole and successful. The visiting artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, scientists and thinkers who once flocked to our shores in times of peace — and when their own countries were lost to fascism — will choose to share their gifts and knowledge with others, eschewing our boundaries all together.
As Schiff said in his statement announcing his tour cancellation, “The American people have spoken — and we have heard them. Yes, indeed, there is a ‘new sheriff in town.’ Which has made it a very different ‘town’ — one that some of us no longer wish to visit. It is no longer obligatory.”
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt wishing for another era and remembering that to everything there is a season. Ashley Lee and I are here with your weekly arts news.
Best bets: On our radar this week
Craig Krull Gallery
This past Saturday, the Bergamot Station Arts Center gallery opened three new exhibitions: “Pegamachos,” a series of AI-generated images and accompanying written narratives by Matías Sauter Morera that reimagine a moment of queer history in Costa Rica; “Portraits,” a selection of intimate and varied paintings by the late Roberto Chavez; and “House of Mirth,” clever and crowd-centric pieces by L.A. printmaker and painter José Lozano. All three exhibitions are on view through May 3. Craig Krull Gallery, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building B-3, Santa Monica. craigkrullgallery.com
ASU FIDM Museum’s Fashion Salon Series
L.A.’s only dedicated fashion museum is hosting free discussions with curators and historians that cumulatively explore 400 years of fashion evolution, complete with displays of some of the museum’s 15,000-piece collection — including garments never before publicly shown. The series begins Thursday evening with an exploration of luxurious 18th century looks, followed by conversations about 19th century silhouettes (April 10), 20th century modernism (April 24), 20th century couture (May 8) and the contemporary scene (May 22). ASU FIDM Museum, 919 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.. asuevents.asu.edu
‘Jane Eyre’
Elizabeth Williamson’s stage adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s beloved 1847 novel retells the story of a young governess caught in the struggle for equality and independence. Geoff Elliott directs this version of the Gothic romance, starring Jeanne Syquia as the titular heroine and Frederick “Freddy” Stuart as Mr. Rochester. The production, currently in previews and opening Saturday, runs through April 20. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
TUESDAY
🎼 Le Concert d’Astrée: Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day
Emmanuelle Haïm conducts as part of the Handel Project Festival.
⏰ 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
🎸 Snow Patrol
The Northern Irish-Scottish rock band plays a two-night stand.
⏰ 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. wiltern.com
WEDNESDAY
🎭 Crazy Mama
Anson Williams directs Linda Purl, who portrays 16 characters, in this play adapted from Sharon Scott Williams’ memoir.
⏰ Through April 13. Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. rubicontheatre.org
🎞️ LAFCA Presents: The Iron Giant + The Incredibles
Director Brad Bird and critic Peter Debruge discuss the filmmaker’s work between screenings of two of his award-winning animated features.
7:30 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. egyptiantheatre.com
🎨 Devin Troy Strother: Dancing in the Dark
The solo exhibition — the title was inspired, in part, by the Bruce Springsteen song — features the Los Angeles artist’s large-scale paintings (ArtCenter’s Hillside Campus); recent and new video works (South Campus); and installations and performances to be staged throughout the run of the exhibition.
⏰ Noon-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. Williamson Gallery (through July 26), ArtCenter Hillside Campus, 1700 Lida St., Pasadena; Mullin Gallery (through June 21), ArtCenter South Campus, 1111 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena. artcenter.edu
THURSDAY
🎙️ L.A. Omnibus
This week’s forum includes a conversation with “The Art of Grief” podcast co-hosts Karen Tongson of USC and Dr. Megan Auster-Rosen, formerly of Cedars Sinai; plus a performance by experimental vocalist Carmina Escobar.
⏰ 8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Times theater critic Charles McNulty took time out on a recent trip to New York City to explore the work of famed playwright Samuel Beckett in a performance of “Beckett Briefs” a bill of three short plays at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The performances, directed by Ciarán O’Reilly. The show is also available to stream through League of Live Stream Theater through March 30. In his review, McNulty writes that Beckett “is perennially timely because his works concern themselves with those eternal questions that the political emergencies of the day cannot override. Even as we confront impossible times, we remain planted in that greater impossibility — human existence.”
Meanwhile, back on the West Coast, McNulty took in the Berkeley Rep revival of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” Starring Hugh Bonneville and directed by Simon Godwin — artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company — the show closes Sunday before transferring to Washington, D.C. This “Vanya,” writes McNulty in a radiant review, “has one foot in the 21st century and another at the turn of the 20th.”
For the first time in more than a decade, the Vienna Philharmonic played a pair of concerts this week at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa and Times classical music critic Mark Swed was there to listen. “The orchestra produces a ravishment of sound both immaterial and downright tactile,” Swed writes in his review, adding, “The standard repertory, moreover, barely budges. Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák and Richard Strauss were on the tour’s docket — nothing written in the last 125 years.”
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In a recent executive order, President Trump targeted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, moving to reduce it to its “statutory functions,” which is code for eliminating its core mandates. The IMLS provides crucial support and funding to 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries across all 50 states, including many in California. Last year, the organization administered $8.9 million in grants to dozens of museums in the state including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Autry Museum of the American West. In a statement lambasting the administration’s move, Erin Harkey, CEO of the nonprofit Americans for the Arts, wrote, “Museums safeguard our cultural heritage, inspire creativity, and fuel local economies through tourism. Museum education programs help make history, science, and the arts accessible to all. Without IMLS funding, children could lose after-school programs, researchers could be denied entry to archives, and entire communities could lose access to important public spaces.”
A recently unearthed painting by Gustav Klimt that was once dismissed as not an authentic work by the Austrian master, has been recognized as the real deal and is now on sale for $16.32 million. The 1897 oil painting of an African prince is named after its subject, Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona.
A former celebrity art advisor whose clients included Leonardo DiCaprio was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for cheating up to a dozen people out of nearly $6.5 million in a scheme that lasted five years and involved 55 works of art.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
A Kennedy Center employee stripped nude in protest of President Trump’s takeover of the center, and asked the question, “Should I quit?”
