Banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck won't be taking the stage at the Kennedy Center next month, saying the venue has become too politically fraught for comfort. The 18-time Grammy winner was slated to perform George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with the National Symphony Orchestra in February, but the 67-year-old musician announced Tuesday in a social media post that he has pulled out. In a statement to the New York Times, Fleck said the situation around the Kennedy Center—whose board recently voted to add President Trump's name to the institution—has shifted from an artistic collaboration to what he called a "highly politicized and divisive" environment. Playing there now, he said, runs counter to his reasons for making music.
The Kennedy Center's president, Richard Grenell, pushed back in his own social media post, accusing Fleck of bowing to "the woke mob" and insisting the center wants performers who "aren't political." An updated event listing on the Kennedy Center's website attributes Fleck's departure to unspecified "personal issues." He'll be replaced on the program by the NSO's principal clarinetist, Lin Ma, who will perform Aaron Copland's "Clarinet Concerto" instead.
Fleck acknowledged to the Times he feels trapped in a "no-win situation," saying that going ahead with the concerts would upset left-leaning fans, while canceling would anger those on the right—and that his decision also unfairly affects the orchestra, which had no role in the naming decision. Jean Davidson, executive director of the NSO, said the group is sorry to lose him and hopes he returns in the future.
Fleck joins a growing list of artists distancing themselves from the Kennedy Center in recent weeks, including Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, longtime Christmas Eve jazz host Chuck Redd, and the jazz septet the Cookers. Rolling Stone notes that Lin-Manuel Miranda also nixed a Hamilton revival at the center set for the spring.
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