Exclusive :Top musicians urge Concertgebouw to readmit Israeli quartet

Almost a hundred musicians have rallied overnight to petition the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to reverse its ban on two concerts this week by the Jerusalem Quartet. The concerts were called off  ‘to gurantee the safety of employees, visitors and musicians.’

Outraged musicians have acccused the Dutch administrators of capitulating to mob rule.

We present the petition below with the initial rush of signatories. They include some well-known artists. If you support their appeal, do share this post on social media and add your name in the comments slot.

Watch for updates during the course of today.

15 May 2024

We, the undersigned, as musicians and presenters who celebrate mutual respect across different disciplines and specialisations, who regularly collaborate and who draw inspiration from one another, are appalled at the recent announcement of the Concertgebouw to cancel the May 16th and 18th performances by the Jerusalem Quartet.

Threats to the safety of musicians, concert hall staff, and the general public, fly in the face of hard-won democratic values and freedom of expression, and should have no place in our society. The behaviour of our arts organisations should reflect this, and should stand up for these values.

By cancelling these concerts, the management of the Concertgebouw placates a vocal minority who advocate for their cause through intimidation and credible threats of disorder and violence. We need not look very far back into European history to see what happens when people acquiesce to the very behaviours that sow their own downfall.

Anything less than permitting the Jerusalem Quartet to continue with its planned performances — and to provide them and the audience of the Concertgebouw with protection and support — amounts to pure moral cowardice.

We call upon the management of the Concertgebouw to show strength of character in defending the concert platform as a realm for free expression of the sublime yearnings of the human spirit otherwise failed by words and actions that all too often lapse into meaningless, pseudo-moral binaries. The Concertgebouw’s behaviour succumbs to an “education at the college of fools” rather than continuing to affirm itself as a bastion of the ineffable.

We wholeheartedly protest this act and as musicians call for an immediate redress.

Yours Sincerely,

1 Mahan Esfahani, harpsichordist
2 Danny Driver, pianist
3 Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
4 Nicholas Daniel, oboist
5 Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, violinist
6 Craig Rutenberg, voice coach and accompanist
7 Hana Arie-Gaifman, Director Emerita Taschner Center 92nd St Y
8 Philip Clark, musician, writer, journalist
9 Michael Fine, Grammy Award-winning producer
10 Alisa Weilerstein, cellist
11 Jan David Schmitz, Head of Programme at the Brucknerhaus Linz
12 Andrew Litton, conductor
13 Ben Goldscheider, horn player
14 Anahita Abbasi, composer
15 Katya Apekisheva, pianist
16 Gemma Rosefield, cellist
17 Amy Dickson saxophonist
18 Lucy Parham, pianist
19 Itzhak Rashkovsky, violinist
20 Shiry Rashkovsky, violist
21 Walter Reiter, violinist
22 Roman Mints, violinist
23 Lars Anders Tomter, violist
24 Ulrich Gerhartz, Director of Concerts & Artist Services Steinway UK
25 Taras Voloschuk, double bass player
26 Diana Ketler, pianist, director Sonoro Festival
27 Boris Brovtsyn, violinist
28 Stephen Waarts, violinist
29 Tom Hancox, flautist
30 Andrew Zolinsky, pianist
31 Benjamin Navarro, violinist
32 Alexander Sitkovetsky, violinist
33 Shlomy Dobrinsky, violinist
34 Edna Landau, arts consultant
35 Jack Liebeck, violinist
36 Maria Schellenberg, mezzo-soprano
37 David Benedict, critic
38 Krzysztof Chorzelski, violist
39 Anahit Kurtikyan, violinist
40 Yuri Zhislin, violinist
41 Alexandra Raikhlina, violinist
42 Natalie Clein, cellist
43 David Cohen, cellist
44 Charles Owen, pianist
45 Kathryn Stott, pianist
46 Guy Ben-Ziony, violist
47 Patrick Savage, violinist and composer
48 Simon Blendis, violinist
49 Martin Owen, horn player
50 Margaret Fingerhut, pianist
51 Oleg Kogan, cellist
52 Arcadia Quartet
53 Rasvan Dumitru, violinist
54 Timothy Ridout, violist
55 Charlotte Scott, cellist
56 Claude Frochaux, cellist
57 Robert Rinder, barrister
58 Louisa Clein, actor
59 Thomas Carroll, cellist
60 Kristina Blaumane, cellist
61 Sacha Rattle, clarinettist
62 Julius Drake, pianist
63 Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, violinist
64 Elizabeth Burley, pianist
65 Simone van der Giessen, violist
66 Polina Kogan, pianist
67 James Francis Brown, composer
68 Fiona Sinclair, CEO, Leeds Piano Competition
69 Philip Dukes, violist
70 Guy Johnson, cellist
71 Piers Lane, pianist
72 Marianna Shirinyan, pianist
73 Anthony Hewitt, pianist
74 Robert Max, cellist
75 David Aspin, violist
76 Dene Olding AM, violinist
77 Ryan Bancroft, conductor
78 Gavin Bryars, composer
79 Paul McCreesh, conductor
80 Arianna Zukermann, soprano
81 Rebecca Miller, conductor
82 Bartholomew LaFollette, cellist
83 Yuri Torchinsky, violinist
84 Alexander Kobrin, pianist
85 Tim Posner, cellist
86 Priya Mitchell, violinist
87 Dirk Mommertz, pianist
88 Reinis Zarins, pianist
89 Brian O’Kane, cellist
90 Boris Adrianov, cellist
91 Norman Lebrecht, writer
92 Boris Petrushansky, pianist
93 Cedric Pescia, pianist
94 Gaby Lester, violinist
94 Yishai Steckler, conductor
95 José Gallardo, pianist
96 Polina Leschenko, pianist
97 Isang Enders, cellist
98 Julia Dausacker, violinist
99 Marc Coppey, violinist
100 Kolja Blacher, violinist
101 Francis Gouton
102 Guy Eshed, flautist
103 Schloss Elmau
104 Enrico Dindo, celiist
105 Hila Baggio, soprano
106 Thomas Gerbeth
107 Benjamin Yusupov, composer
108 Simone Gramaglia
109 Aylen Pritchin
110 Arin Maisky
111 Michaël Gutman, Pietrasanta in Concerto
112 Mary Jo Capps AM, Musica Viva
113 Ursula Dehne
114 Pierre Génisson
115 Miguel da Silva
116 Evgeny Kissin, pianist
117 Boris Garlitsky, violinist
118 Philippe Quint, violinist
119 Noah Bendix-Balgley
120 Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Korsholm Music Festival
121 Mariam Rüetschi, violist
122 Dudu Carmel, oboist
123 Pablo Barragán
124 Ioan-Dragos Dimitriu
125 Yaniv Elijah d’Or
126 Roman Spitzer
127 Felix Nemirovsky, Israel Philharmonic
128 Daniel Kuehnel
129 Karin Lechner
130 Yevheniya Lyoshor
131 Nicolas Dautricourt
132 Terje Mikkelsen
133 Alban Gerhardt
134 Stephanie Gonley
135 Leontina Margulis
136 Natalia Margulis
137 Jura Margulis
138 Claudio Bohórquez, cellist
139 Leonid Kerbel, Musica Mundi School
140 Hagit Hassid-Kerbel, Musica Mundi School
141 Corina Belcea, violinist
142 Hrachya Avanesyan
143 Arsen Gulua
144 Osvaldo Ferreira, Portuguese Philharmonic Orchestra
145 Per Nyström, cellist
146 Erica Worth, Editor, Pianist Magazine
147 Dmitri Dichtiar
148 Raz Binyamini
149 Liza Ferschtman, violinist
150 Ivan Karizna
151 Daniel Cohen
152 Asya Gulua, pianist
153 Uri Dror, Jerusalem Music Centre
154 Kirill Gerstein, pianist
155 Giovanni Guzzo, violinist
156 Andrei Gridchuk
157 Alena Baeva, violinist
158 Pavel Berman
159 Maria Wloszczowska, violinist
160 Lucia d’Anna
161 Adrian Brendel, cellist
162 Hannah Roberts, cellist
163 Jonathan Aner
164 Nimrod Guez
165 Maria Meerovitch
166 Julian Arp
167 Arnon Erez, pianist
168 Pavel Berman
169 Avi Avital, mandolin
170 Bertrand Chamayou, pianist
171 Konstanza Hörtnagel
172 Brett Dean, violist/composer
173 Deborah Jay
174 Ariel Halevi
175 Marija Pavlovic
176 Jennie Engström
177 Reiko Hozu
178 Eyal Hofmekler
179 Abel Gomes
180 Julia Kogan
181 Shirly Laub, violinist
182 Ruth Rogers, violinist
183 Rolf Hind, pianist/composer
184 David Grimal, violinist/conductor
185 Ruth Fisher, broadcaster
186 Nana Jashvili, violinist
187 Gia Jashvili, violinist
188 Jamie Walton, cellist
189 Leonid Gorokhov, cellist
190 Neil Roxburgh, pianist
191 Pablo Hernán Benedí, violinist
192 Mathieu Herzog, conductor
193 Sergei Babayan, pianist
194 Ilya Grubert
195 Karin Lechner
196 Bob Riley, CEO Manchester Camerata
197 Nino Gvetadze, pianist
198 Horácio Ferreira
199 Diana Ketler, pianist
200 Maja Bogdanovic, cellist
201 Janne Thomason
202 Eran Haras
203 Polina Yehudi, violinist
204 Yevgeny Yehudin, clarinet
205 Ofer Falk
206 Diego Jiménez Alonso
207 Avishai Darash
208 Roberto Prosseda, pianist
209 Alessandra Ammara, pianist
210 Martha Argerich, pianist
211 Mary Kaptein, Artist Manager
212 Vadym Kholodenko, pianist
213 Alexander Kagan, violinist
214 Sergio Tiempo, pianist
215 Sergei Nakariakov, trumpeter
216 Misha Maisky, cellist
217 Daria van den Bercken, pianist
218 Evgeny Kissin
219 David Pickett, conductor
220 Gabriela Montero, pianist
221 Shirley Brill
222 Amina Kublanova violinist
223 Derck Littel, Concertgebouworkest cellist
224 Mathieu Herzog, conductor
225 Sergei Babayan, pianist
226 Ilya Grubert
227 Karin Lechner
228 Bob Riley, CEO Manchester Camerata
229 Nino Gvetadze, pianist
230 Horácio Ferreira
231 Diana Ketler, pianist
232 Maja Bogdanovic, cellist
233 Janne Thomason
234 Eran Haras
235 Polina Yehudi, violinist
236 Yevgeny Yehudin, clarinet
237 Ofer Falk
238 Diego Jiménez Alonso
239 Avishai Darash
240 Roberto Prosseda, pianist
241 Alessandra Ammara, pianist
242 Martha Argerich, pianist
243 Mary Kaptein, Artist Manager
244 Fabio Luisi, conductor
245 Yuliya Gorenman, pianist
246 Nadia Weintraub, Concert Pianist
247 Eleonore Pameijer, flutist, artistic director Leo Smit Foundation
248 Vladimir Fanshil, conductor
249 Kees Vlaardingerbroek, musicologist and artistic adviser
250 Ilan Levin, Pianist
251 Kristina Reiko Cooper, cellist
252 Elizabeth Nielsen, violin
253 John Borstlap, composer
254 Martin Cousin – pianist
255 Penelope Blackie, pianist
256 Dingeman van Daal, lawyer
257 Ludwig Hartmann, Vorsitzender, Hamburg

258 Carla Zoethout