Bela Fleck Withdraws From Kennedy Center Concerts "Performing there has become charged and political," the 18-time Gramm [View all]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/arts/music/bela-fleck-kennedy-center-orchestra.html

Béla Fleck Withdraws From Kennedy Center Concerts
“Performing there has become charged and political,” the 18-time Grammy winner said.


The celebrated banjo player Béla Fleck announced on Tuesday that he had withdrawn from three concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, becoming the latest artist to forgo playing at the venue amid changes from the Trump administration.

Mr. Fleck, an 18-time Grammy Award winner, was scheduled to play with the National Symphony Orchestra in February. Several musicians have cut ties with the Kennedy Center since its board voted last month to add President Trump’s name to the institution.

“It has become less and less a musically and artistically based situation and more of a highly politicized and divisive one,” Mr. Fleck said in a statement to The New York Times. “This pushes against the deepest motivations of why I want to be a musician.”

In a social media post announcing his withdrawal, Mr. Fleck said that performing at the Kennedy Center had “become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music.”