Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Within the last 24 hours, some 11,000 people have signed an online letter urging the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to go ahead with two concerts by the Jerusalem Quartet, after the Dutch venue announced Tuesday that the Thursday and Saturday concerts by the Israeli ensemble had been canceled because of safety concerns “due to announced demonstrations, and recent developments surrounding protests in Amsterdam.”
According to classical news site SlippedDisc, more than 250 musicians and well-known artists signed the initial letter before it was released online.
The quartet’s cellist Kyril Zlotnikov, in a Facebook post yesterday, called the decision to cancel the concerts a “capitulation to bullying and terrorism.”
The Jerusalem Quartet, an established string quartet with a 30-year history, last week performed a sold-out show at Wigmore Hall in London.
Amsterdam has seen in recent days a series of sometimes violent anti-Israeli demonstrations and subsequent arrests relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Jerusalem Quartet in an undated photo. (courtesy)
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 16, 2024
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