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Andr\u00e1s Schiff, an eminent concert pianist who has boycotted strongman rule in Russia and his native Hungary, said on Wednesday that he would no longer perform in the United States because of concerns about President Trump\u2019s \u201cunbelievable bullying\u201d on the world stage.<\/p>\n
Mr. Schiff, 71, a towering figure in classical music, said he was alarmed by Mr. Trump\u2019s admonishments of Ukraine; his expansionist threats about Canada, Greenland and Gaza; and his support for far-right politicians in Germany. Mr. Schiff, who was born to a Jewish family in Budapest that witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, said that Mr. Trump\u2019s calls for mass deportation reminded him painfully of efforts to expel Jews during World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has brought an ugliness into this world which hadn\u2019t been there,\u201d Mr. Schiff said in a telephone interview this week from Hong Kong, where he is performing. \u201cI just find it impossible to go along with what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Mr. Schiff decided to stop performing in the United States. He said that he was canceling appearances next spring with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a recital tour this fall with a stop at Carnegie Hall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Schiff, revered for his interpretations of the music of Bach and Mozart, is the latest artist to boycott the United States because of Mr. Trump. Last month the German violinist Christian Tetzlaff announced he would no longer perform<\/a> in the country, citing Mr. Trump\u2019s embrace of Russia, among other concerns.<\/p>\n The small but growing cultural boycott is a jarring reversal. In the past, it was American performers who often canceled engagements overseas to protest war, autocracy and injustice. Now the United States is seen by some as a pariah.<\/p>\n The White House has appeared unconcerned by boycotts by foreign artists, saying Mr. Trump\u2019s priority is the United States.<\/p>\n Stephen Duncombe, a professor of media and culture at New York University, said it was not surprising that performers were shunning the United States because, he said, it is \u201clurching away from democracy.\u201d He noted that these artists follow a long tradition. Pablo Picasso, for example, refused to have his \u201cGuernica\u201d displayed in Spain until it embraced democratic rule.<\/p>\n Mr. Schiff has been an outspoken critic of right-wing movements in Europe. He has denounced the erosion of democracy in his native Hungary under the far-right populist leader Viktor Orban, a Trump ally. (Mr. Schiff said he could not believe that Mr. Trump had expressed admiration for Mr. Orban: \u201cViktor Orban is the last person I would think of as a role model,\u201d he said.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Schiff has not returned to Hungary since 2010. He told the BBC<\/a> in 2013 that he faced threats that his hands would be cut off if he returned.<\/p>\n In the early 2000s, Mr. Schiff, who lived for years in Austria, spoke out forcefully against anti-immigrant and antisemitic rhetoric embraced by some conservative politicians there. And after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Mr. Schiff refused to play in the country, joining many Western artists in a cultural embargo.<\/p>\n Mr. Schiff is considered one of the greatest pianists in the world, and has made a number of classic recordings. He holds German and British citizenship, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. He has been a fixture in the United States since the late 1970s and built a devoted following. He said that he had long cherished the United States as a \u201cbeacon of freedom and liberty and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n It was not just Mr. Trump\u2019s rise that had disturbed Mr. Schiff in recent years: He was also alarmed by some actions taken by the far left in the United States, including efforts to limit speech at universities.<\/p>\n Mr. Schiff said that he waited a few weeks to see how Mr. Trump\u2019s second term unfolded before making a decision about his commitments in the United States.<\/p>\n Mr. Schiff said he agreed that the war in Ukraine should be brought to an end, but that he was taken back by the president\u2019s \u201cmethods and manners,\u201d which he called \u201ctruly unacceptable.\u201d He was particularly disturbed, he said, by Mr. Trump\u2019s attacks on President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during an explosive meeting in the Oval Office<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Equally distressing, Mr. Schiff said, were Mr. Trump\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hear this word deportation, it rings a bell \u2014 it rings a terrible bell,\u201d he said. \u201cMy family, my Jewish family, was deported \u2014 some to Auschwitz, and some to other concentration camps.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Mr. Schiff said, he could no longer appear in a country whose politics he so viscerally disagreed with. \u201cThe general election shows that a substantial part of people support these viewpoints and actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr. Schiff said that he did not expect his boycott would have much of an impact, but that it was important to speak up.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it\u2019s a drop in the ocean; I\u2019m not expecting many musicians to follow,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s for my own conscience. In history, one has to react or not to react.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n