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

Published on 12/09/2025 - 20:03 GMT+2

An EU Commissioner and nan executive person labelled arsenic incorrect and concerning a determination by nan Ghent Festival to cancel a performance by an Israeli conductor complete his alleged views connected nan Israeli government.

The Ghent Festival cancelled nan performance by nan Munich Philharmonic Orchestra scheduled for adjacent week citing insufficient clarity complete its Israeli conductor Lahav Shani's cognition to nan Israeli government.

“We are profoundly concerned by nan cancellation of nan performance and nan implications it carries,” a spokesperson for nan Commission told Euronews.

“Banning group from stages aliases performance halls, unless they dispersed dislike and violence, is against our basal and antiauthoritarian values. Artists should not beryllium judged based their origin, belief aliases governmental affiliation,” nan spokesperson added.

In a station connected X, nan Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef said: "Cancelling an quality of an creator astatine a performance purely based connected his belief beliefs aliases nationality is wrong."

German greenish leader Volcker Beck slammed nan determination arsenic antisemitic and said successful a station connected X that nan EU’s backing of nan show implicated nan Commission successful nan decision.

But nan Commission spokesperson said that location was nary EU backing progressive successful nan Ghent Festival.

“Creative Europe is not financing this year’s version successful immoderate way. We person been made alert nan Creative Europe logo appears connected nan Festival’s website and we will inquire nan organisers to region it immediately,” nan spokesperson said.

Belgium’s overseas curate Maxime Prévot distanced himself from nan cancellation of nan performance describing it arsenic “excessive”, and Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s civilization and media commissioner, called Ghent’s determination “a ugliness for Europe”.

Weimer said that it that group a “dangerous precedent”, adding: “That is naked antisemitism and an onslaught connected nan basics of our culture.”