When the German violinist Christian Tetzlaff returned home to Berlin after a recent performance in Chicago, he was distraught. The concert had gone well, but he was increasingly disturbed by political developments in the United States: President Trump’s embrace of Russia, the dizzying cuts to the federal work force and changes in policies affecting transgender Americans.
“I felt like a child watching a horror film,” he said in an interview.
On Friday, Mr. Tetzlaff, 58, a renowned violinist who frequently performs in the United States, said that he was canceling an eight-city tour of the country with his quartet this spring — including a stop at Carnegie Hall — and that he was unlikely to perform again in America unless the government reversed course.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” he said. “I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”
Harrison W. Fields, a White House spokesman, offered a two-word response to Mr. Tetzlaff’s cancellation: “America first.”
Mr. 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.
For decades, American artists have canceled tours as a means of protesting war, autocracy, injustice and discrimination abroad. There were cultural boycotts of South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s in protest of its policy of apartheid, and more recently, artists have refused to perform in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Now, with the Trump administration dramatically remaking both domestic and foreign policy in its first 100 days, some performers are employing the tactic and turning the tables: canceling performances in the United States.
It is unclear if the strategy will have much impact on the highly polarized political environment in America. The vast majority of foreign artists have kept their engagements.
Mr. Tetzlaff said he hoped to start a conversation.
“I pay 32 percent taxes on every concert I play in the United States,” he said. “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.”
Many artists, especially those from Europe, have been alarmed by Mr. Trump’s embrace of Russia and his criticism of Ukraine in his second term. Just last week, Mr. Trump falsely asserted that Ukraine “started” the war with Russia and called President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine a “dictator without elections.” On Friday, Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Mr. Zelensky in an unusually fractious White House meeting, accusing him of not being grateful enough for U.S. support.
Mr. Tetzlaff said the American government was betraying Ukraine — and that its new approach to the conflict was a major factor in his decision to cancel his appearances.
“Have the American people forgotten the pictures and tales of the scores of slain civilians in every town the Russians invaded?” he said.
Mr. Tetzlaff, who was to appear next month with his ensemble, the Tetzlaff Quartet, in New York, Connecticut, Georgia and California, said he was also likely to cancel his engagements planned this summer and fall in the United States. He added that he would be open to performing benefit concerts in the United States 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,” he said.
Mr. Tetzlaff first performed in the United States in 1988 and has about 20 engagements here each year. Calling America a “big part of my musical life,” he said he would be saddened to add it to the list of countries where he does not perform. That list includes China and Russia, which he has avoided because of government policies.
Mr. Tetzlaff said that he had consulted friends and colleagues and that many disagreed with his decision, saying that music could help bring people together. But he said he was inspired partly by the example of composers like Beethoven, Brahms and Bartok, whose music touched on themes of freedom and individuality.
“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,” he said. “Music sends messages about the human condition, about empathy and the heart. We have to uphold these ideals.”
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