It’s ‘wrong’ and ‘concerning’ to cancel Israeli conductor from festival – EU Commission

An EU Commissioner and the executive have labelled as wrong and concerning a decision by the Ghent Festival to cancel a concert by an Israeli conductor over his alleged views on the Israeli government.

The Ghent Festival cancelled the concert by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra scheduled for next week citing insufficient clarity over its Israeli conductor Lahav Shani's attitude to the Israeli government.

“We are deeply concerned by the cancellation of the concert and the implications it carries,” a spokesperson for the Commission told Euronews.

“Banning people from stages or concert halls, unless they spread hate and violence, is against our fundamental and democratic values. Artists should not be judged based their origin, religious or political affiliation,” the spokesperson added.

In a post on X, the Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef said: "Cancelling an appearance of an artist at a concert purely based on his religious beliefs or nationality is wrong."

German green politician Volcker Beck slammed the decision as antisemitic and said in a post on X that the EU’s funding of the festival implicated the Commission in the decision.

But the Commission spokesperson said that there was no EU funding involved in the Ghent Festival.

“Creative Europe is not financing this year’s edition in any way. We have been made aware the Creative Europe logo appears on the Festival’s website and we will ask the organisers to remove it immediately,” the spokesperson said.

Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prévot distanced himself from the cancellation of the concert describing it as “excessive”, and Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s culture and media commissioner, called Ghent’s decision “a disgrace for Europe”.

Weimer said that it that set a “dangerous precedent”, adding: “That is naked antisemitism and an attack on the basics of our culture.”