Social media and the news media were abuzz this week about the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s (TSO) decision to cancel pianist Valentina Lisitsa’s guest appearance at concerts to be held at Roy Thomson Hall on April 8 and 9. At first the decision was presented by some media as discrimination against the pianist for her political views. Indeed, Musical Toronto on April 6 carried this misleading, and misinformed, headline: “TSO Dumps Upcoming Soloist Valentina Lisitsa Over Political Views.”
Ms. Lisitsa’s supporters reacted by crying “censorship” and by sharing a photo of the pianist with tape across her mouth, captioned “Toronto Symphony, Let Valentina Play!” The photo illustration was made by Ms. Lisitsa herself and posted on her Facebook page along with a plea to her fans to tell TSO “music can’t be silenced” and to share the illustration. She claimed in a post on Facebook that she is just “a regular human being – a daughter, a mother, a wife” who was seeing a fratricidal war in “my beautiful Ukraine.”
But readers of The Ukrainian Weekly who are familiar with Ms. Lisitsa’s recent non-musical work know otherwise. We refer you to Adrian Bryttan’s “News and Views” piece titled “When ‘high culture’ merges with terrorism,” published in our December 14, 2014, issue. Her Tweets are vulgar, callous, hateful, racist, uncivilized. Mr. Bryttan commented in an online post on April 8: “Ms. Lisitsa’s corner wants everyone to believe her ban by the Toronto Symphony is a witch hunt over free speech and political opinions, but that is a smokescreen. This is really about accountability. It’s about Ms. Lisitsa accepting responsibility for her actions. The TSO, like every arts institution, recognizes it was formed by the community and its mission is to enrich its community. Canadians expect their core values reflected in their institutions.”
Toronto Symphony President and CEO Jeff Melanson was absolutely correct when he told The Canadian Press: “This is not about free speech, this is not about a political perspective or persuasion, this is about very offensive, intolerant comments about people.” He said Ms. Lisitsa was replaced after TSO received complaints from hundreds of people. Furthermore, he told Classical FM radio: “We sent her seven pages of Tweets that really are not political Tweets, but rather something much beyond that, very, very offensive commentary. We’d hoped to have some clarity around those, giving her the opportunity to basically explain that these were not her words, which was something that was originally suggested, that perhaps someone else was writing for her or something along those lines. So, unfortunately, she just confirmed finally last week that these are her words and her beliefs, and we had to make a change.”
Incidentally, the vitriol had another victim: Stewart Goodyear, the pianist who was to replace Ms. Lisitsa in performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. He wrote: “With all due respect to the pianist who I was going to replace, one must own one’s opinions and words, and have the courage to defend her position without hiding behind the pseudonym, ‘NedoUkraїnka.’ Her words offended many people who perceived her as pro-violence and anti-love. Her most recent ‘plea’ to her fans and followers to attack the orchestra that released her of her performance schedule was unfortunate. Free speech has consequences, and one must own one’s position. Dragging other people who have nothing to do with her position does nothing constructive. Her attitude, and the mob-like behavior of her devotees, censored Rachmaninoff’s second concerto. It is no longer on this week’s program. Many people demanded that I respond to their Twitter tirades. Here is my response: I am an artist, not a politician; a lover of all people, not an ambassador for hatred; a human being with a name, not a pseudonym.”
Ms. Lisitsa has responded to critics by referring to all the “vicious haters” who tried to silence her as a musician. Aha. Yes, Tweets like this one – “Dear conscious Ukrainians: I will never get tired of reminding you that you are dog feces. Thank you kindly for your attention.” – have a lot to do with music… Just who is the hater here? And Ms. Lisitsa has refused to retract her words. In fact, Mr. Melanson told The Globe and Mail: “We did give her many opportunities to clarify or retract her Tweets, and it was our sincere hope that she would do so.”
Some commentators have suggested that Ms. Lisitsa’s comments might violate Canadian laws on hate speech. She says this is all a misunderstanding of her views, a mistranslation of her comments, a misinterpretation of her Tweets. But it’s too late. As Ukrainians would say “vylizlo shylo z mishka,” or the jig is up. It’s clear to all that this case has nothing to do with freedom of speech or Ms. Lisitsa’s political views, objectionable as they are. Hate speech is not free speech. And inciting hatred is simply not to be tolerated. Not in Toronto, not anywhere.