The impressive pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati has cancelled her tour this year, saying she cannot perform there under the Trump administration.
Nosrati, born in Bochum in 1989 to Iranian parents, has made her name playing Bach and, unusually, Alkan. She was due to play in Minneapolis, Boston and Portland this November. These events have been taken down on her website ‘for political reasons’. Since 2020, she has worked as assistant to Sir András Schiff at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.
Nosrat writes: ‘It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce my decision to cancel my USA tour planned for this fall. It causes me great emotional pain to observe the direction in which the country is developing under the Trump administration. One of the world’s longest-standing democracies is giving way to an increasingly autocratic regime that claims the right to interfer in cultural institutions and sciences and dismiss masses of people who do not conform to the government’s ideology. It is extremely disturbing to see how facts are being distorted and the American people is being deliberately disinformed, with the result that no one can distinguish between true and false news any more. But more than anything, I am shocked by the complete lack of empathy from political leaders, both in their rhetoric and in their treatment of those who desperately need help. The very idea of turning Gaza into a „Riviera of the Middle East“ is absolutely cynical and inhuman in view of the terrible bloodshed that took place there. Not to mention the recent public humiliation of the Ukrainian president and Trump‘s decision to leave Ukraine (and Europe) completely alone in this war…
‘This is not the America that I got to know and love during my previous travels and concert tours. Of course, there is a distinction to be made between the government and the people, and I know so many brilliant and liberal-minded Americans who are suffering horribly under the current administration. But the fact that a criminal like Trump has been democratically elected by a majority for the second time is a sad reality that we have to face. As an artist, I feel obliged to take a clear stance and protest against injustice. Canceling my concerts will not change anything politically, but it seems to be a necessary step at a time when clear criticism is required from all public figures.’
The post Young German pianist joins US boycott appeared first on Slippedisc.
