Suspension of Musicians
Four string players were suspended by the orchestra in 2011 for signing a letter to The Independent newspaper calling on The Proms to cancel a concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, on the grounds of the latter's involvement with the Israeli state and its partnership with the Israeli Defense Forces, who impede the development of Palestinian culture, including the prevention of Palestinian musicians from travelling abroad to perform. The suspensions was criticized as 'disproportionate' by Geoffrey Alderman and 'too harsh' by Norman Lebrecht. LPO chief executive Timothy Walker said 'Jewish pressure' led to the suspensions. One of the suspended players later took a claim for discrimination on the grounds of belief to an employment tribunal.
Read more about this topic: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Famous quotes containing the words suspension of, suspension and/or musicians:
“If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn’t prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C)
“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“As if the musicians did not so much play the little phrase as execute the rites required by it to appear, and they proceeded to the necessary incantations to obtain and prolong for a few instants the miracle of its evocation, Swann, who could no more see the phrase than if it belonged to an ultraviolet world ... Swann felt it as a presence, as a protective goddess and a confidante to his love, who to arrive to him ... had clothed the disguise of this sonorous appearance.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)