TOI correspondent from Washington: Celebrated American composer and Indophile Philip Glass has withdrawn the world premiere of his Symphony No 15, “Lincoln,” from the MAGA-infused Kennedy Center in Washington DC — the decision redolent of nonviolent Gandhian protest embodied in his landmark opera Satyagraha.
Glass announced this week that the Kennedy Center’s current direction under President Trump – who attached his name to the Kennedy Center – conflicts fundamentally with the values his symphony seeks to uphold. “Symphony No 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony,” he wrote on social media, explaining that he feels “an obligation” to withdraw the work under its present leadership.
