The celebrated banjo player Béla Fleck announced on Tuesday that he had withdrawn from three concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, becoming the latest artist to forgo playing at the venue amid changes from the Trump administration.
Mr. Fleck, an 18-time Grammy Award winner, was scheduled to play with the National Symphony Orchestra in February. Several musicians have cut ties with the Kennedy Center since its board voted last month to add President Trump’s name to the institution.
“Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music,” Mr. Fleck said in a social media post. “I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”
An updated listing on the Kennedy Center’s website said Mr. Fleck, who was scheduled to play “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, had pulled out of the concerts because of “personal issues.” Replacing him in the program is the orchestra’s principal clarinetist, Lin Ma, who will perform Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.
When asked for comment, the Kennedy Center pointed to a social media post by its president, Richard Grenell, who responded to Mr. Fleck’s post by saying: “You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties.”
Mr. Grenell added, “We want performers who aren’t political – who simply love entertaining everyone regardless of who they voted for.”
Representatives for Mr. Fleck and the National Symphony Orchestra did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Fleck, who also has one Latin Grammy, could add to his trophy case next month: The album “BEATrio,” with the harpist Edmar Castañeda and the drummer Antonio Sánchez, received a Grammy nomination for best contemporary instrumental album.
The performers who have withdrawn from events at the Kennedy Center over the past few weeks include Stephen Schwartz, the composer of the musicals “Wicked” and “Godspell”; Chuck Redd, a jazz musician who had long hosted a free Christmas Eve concert; and the jazz septet the Cookers, who canceled two New Year’s Eve concerts.
Emmanuel Morgan reports on sports, pop culture and entertainment.
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