Cinema News: An Israeli conductor’s cancellation

September 12, 2025 | View in browser

Lahav Shani, center, future Chief Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

By Jessica Gelt

Staff Writer

Controversy erupted over Wednesday's announcement by Flanders Festival Ghent that it had canceled an upcoming concert by the Munich Philharmonic featuring Lahav Shani, an Israeli conductor who serves as the music director of the Israel Philharmonic.

In an online statement, festival organizers acknowledged that the canceled performance, scheduled for Sept. 18, was expected to be "one of the artistic highlights of the festival," and that Shani "has spoken out in favour of peace and reconciliation several times in the past," but that the decision had nonetheless been made because "we are unable to provide sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv."

"In line with the call from the Minister of Culture, the city council of Ghent and the cultural sector in Ghent, we have chosen to refrain from collaboration with partners who have not distanced themselves unequivocally from that regime," the statement continued, adding that priority was being given to "the serenity of our festival," and in order to "safeguard the concert experience for our visitors and musicians. "

Backlash was intense and immediate, with many critics taking to social media to condemn the decision as antisemitic.

"This is not a protest. It is discrimination," the European Jewish Congress wrote on X. "Targeting artists because of their nationality is unacceptable and undermines the very foundations of European cultural and democratic values. They only fuel hatred, with concrete consequences on European streets."

By Thursday morning, an online petition in support of Shani organized by Iranian American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani had garnered more than 5,500 signatures, including those of well-known classical musicians such as conductor and pianist Joshua Weilerstein, British classical pianist Danny Driver and cellist Kyril Zlotnikov.

"The Ghent Festival has chosen to punish an artist on the basis of his nationality alone," reads the petition, which calls for an immediate reversal of the cancellation. "What is more insidious is the implication that any artist, Israeli or otherwise, will only be accepted if they express unequivocally the 'correct' opinions."

"This decision will do nothing to save a single Palestinian life, bring a hostage home, or to make any improvement to the unbearable civilian suffering currently taking place in this conflict," the petition continues. "It will, however, resonate loudly with those who equate an artist's nationality with an excuse to exclude them from the cultural sphere."

Martin Kotthaus, the German ambassador to Belgium, posted on X that he deeply regretted the move made by the Ghent Festival, adding, "The decision and the reasons given are incomprehensible. I welcome the fact that Belgian Foreign Minister Prévot and Flemish Prime Minister Diependaele have distanced themselves from the festival's decision." (Note: Matthias Diependaele is the current Minister-President of Flanders.)

Shani — a Tel Aviv-born conductor, pianist and double bassist —took over as music director of the Israel Philharmonic beginning with the 2020-21 season after Zubin Mehta stepped down. Earlier this year, his contract was extended until 2032. In 2023, it was announced that Shani would take over as chief conductor of the Munich Orchestra for the 2026-27 season, and he is expected to continue in both roles.

Shani is also serving as the chief conductor of Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra until the end of its 2025-26 season. Rob Streevelaar, general and artistic director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, issued a statement saying that the orchestra is closely following the situation in Ghent.

"Our Chief Conductor Lahav Shani has previously spoken out in the press in favor of peace and humanity," the statement reads. "He has emphasized that he does not represent a political position, but wishes to contribute to unity and hope through art. He does this by way of various initiatives, including his involvement with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Palestinian scholar Edward Said and Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim."

Flanders Festival Ghent is a three-week-long international music festival that attracts more than 50,000 visitors annually and features more than 180 concerts and 1,500 musicians. There are now calls for other participants to boycott the festival in protest.

I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, writing these words with peace on my mind. Here's this week's arts news.

On our critics' radar this week

Fiddler on the Roof
This concert version of the much-heralded National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's production translates the beloved musical into Yiddish. Under the direction of Joel Grey, Steven Skybell reprises his much-acclaimed performance as Tevye. The show will include English supertitles for those who don't understand Yiddish or already know the show by heart.
– Charles McNulty
8 p.m. Saturday; 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. The Soraya, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. thesoraya.org

Grounded
Featuring 40 works, spanning the 1970s to today, by 35 artists based in the Americas and around the Pacific, the exhibition continues LACMA's ongoing emphasis on contemporary rather than historical art. The diverse work, primarily sculpture and installation, is billed as investigating "ecology, sovereignty, memory and home."
– Christopher Knight
Sunday through June 21. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, BCAM Level 2, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts
The veteran rocker will wrap his latest world tour — ostensibly booked behind June's "Talkin to the Trees" album — with a sure-to-be-shaggy gig at the Hollywood Bowl. The Chrome Hearts include Spooner Oldham on organ, Micah Nelson on guitar, Corey McCormick on bass and Anthony LoGerfo on drums.
— Mikael Wood
7:30 p.m. Monday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

🎞️ 🇲🇽 Hola Mexico Film Festival
The celebration of cinema from our neighbors to the south features México Ahora, a curated section of the best recent releases; Nocturno, a selection of horror films; Documental, a nonfiction films section; the animated films of Hola Niños; and Nuevas Voces, a focus on emerging directors and their first works. The festival begins with an opening-night screening of director J.M Cravioto's "Autos, Mota y Rocanrol."
7 p.m. Friday. The Montalban Theatre, 615 Vine St, Hollywood. Festival continues through Sept. 20 at Regal Cinemas LA Live, Cinépolis Pico Rivera and Milagro Cinemas Norwalk, with closing night at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
holamexicoff.com

🪅 🎨 Roberto Benavidez/Danielle Orchard
The Pico Boulevard gallery Perrotin opens its fall season with two new exhibitions. Inspired by 15th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, El Sereno sculptor Benavidez turns piñata-making into detailed figurative art with "Bosch Beasts." Orchard finds parallels between motherhood and painting in her rich, evocative series "Firstborn."
5-7:30 p.m. Friday opening for both shows; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Oct. 18. Perrotin, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com

🎶 Made in Memphis
The performance collective MUSE/IQUE hosts a free, three-day open house paying tribute to "Stax Records, Soul and The Black Artists Who Started a Sound Revolution." Rachael Worby leads an ensemble that features LaVance Colley, DC6 Singers Collective, Chris Pierce and Sy Smith, founder of the nu-soul movement
7:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Caltech, Beckman Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Pasadena. muse-ique.com

SATURDAY
🎨 Bisa Butler
The New Jersey artist responds to how it feels to be an African American woman living in 2025 with quilted portraits on jet-black cotton or black velvet.
6-8 p.m. Saturday, opening reception; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Nov. 1. Jeffrey Deitch, 7000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. deitch.com

🎭 🎶 Huzzah!
Two sisters battle to save their father's Renaissance fair from financial ruin in the world premiere of a musical comedy by Olivier Award winners and Tony Award nominees Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, directed by Annie Tippe.
8 p.m. Saturday through Oct. 19. Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego. theoldglobe.org

🎸 🎶 La Santa Cecilia
The Grammy-winning quartet fronted by Marisol "La Marisoul" Hernandez crosses borders and genres with passionate songs of love, identity and social justice, fusing Latin American traditions and global rhythms.
8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, and 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14. The Luckman, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles. luckmanarts.org

🎨 Annie Lapin
The L.A.-based artist blends representation and abstraction to reimagine the Southern California landscape in "Fragile Familiar," a solo exhibition of new paintings.
6-8 p.m. Saturday, opening reception; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Oct. 25. Nazarian / Curcio, 616 N. La Brea Ave. nazariancurcio.com

🎼 A Musical Genesis
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Music Director Jaime Martín, is joined by cellist Nicolas Altstaedt for a program featuring Haydn's "La poule," Schumann's "Cello Concerto" and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5."
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Zipper Hall, 200 South Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday, The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org

🎨 Transgresoras: Mail Art and Messages, 1960s–2020s
In the U.S., the emergence in the 1950s of the first lively American market for new art led to some artists developing strategies for getting around the limitations of galleries and commerce. In Latin America, meanwhile, artists often faced censorship. Mail art that could circulate through the post office was simultaneously invented in both places to serve those situations, as this intergenerational survey plans to explore. (Christopher Knight)
Noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, through Sept. 24; noon-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 25-Feb. 15. California Museum of Photography, 3824 Main St., Riverside. ucrarts.ucr.edu

SUNDAY
🎞️ Jaws: The Exhibition
This deep dive into Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster, starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, takes guests through the movie scene by scene via original objects, behind-the-scenes revelations and interactive moments. The film itself screens in 4K at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the museum's David Geffen Theater.
10 a.m. Sunday-Monday, Tuesday-Saturday, through July 26. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

💃 Kim Eung Hwa & Korean Dance Company
Bring the whole family to a gorgeous outdoor amphitheater to enjoy a colorful performance by this 45-year-old traditional dance company. The show commemorates the Korean fall festival Hangawi, which celebrates the harvest season. Traditional drums, as well as fan-and-flower-crown dances, will be performed to lively Korean folk music. (Jessica Gelt)
11:30 a.m. Sunday. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E. theford.com

🎸 🇲🇽 Zona Libre: A Musical Celebration of Latino L.A.
Skirball Cultural Center, Grand Performances and Zócalo Public Square present a day of musical performances by Renee Goust, Vivir Quintana and La Verdad, plus dance workshops, panel conversations, food and museum exhibitions.
3-9:30 p.m. Sunday. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. skirball.org

WEDNESDAY
🎼 🎹 Thomas Kotcheff
The pianist is joined by musician Bryan Curt Kostors and video artist Allison Tanenhaus as they perform works from Kotcheff's new album, "Between Systems," as well as interpretations of music by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Cher, Céline Dion and Beyoncé.
8 p.m. 2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd. pianospheres.org

🎨 Hélio Oiticica
The first major L.A. exhibition in Los Angeles of the artist (1937-1980) includes gouaches, suspended sculptures and a rare oil painting that trace the formative years of Oiticica's career
6-8 p.m. Wednesday opening; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Nov. 1. Lisson Gallery, 1037 N. Sycamore Ave. lissongallery.com

THURSDAY

🎸 🎶 Nine Inch Nails
The band has a new album of sorts out Sept. 19 in "Tron: Ares," the latest film score from Trent Reznor and his partner Atticus Ross. The group's "Peel It Back" tour hits the Forum for two nights; the band looks to be playing in the round for some experimental passages before firing on all cylinders with its new (and old) drummer Josh Freese, who they swapped in from Foo Fighters just days before the tour started. (August Brown)
7:30 p.m. Thursday and Sept. 19. Kia Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. thekiaforum.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Times art critic Christopher Knight weighs in with a review of a "captivating" exhibition, "The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Ancient Greece," at the Getty Villa — the first at the museum since January's ferocious Palisades fire. The most fascinating object on view is a 1.3-inch-long, almond-shaped, gold-tipped agate, carved with an exquisitely detailed battle scene that is almost undetectable to the human eye. The piece is on display outside of Europe for the first time, and is part of a trove of treasures found with the entombed Griffin Warrior — also on display.

Times theater critic Charles McNulty also headed for the Getty Villa for its annual outdoor theater show. This year's performance of "Oedipus the King, Mama!" comes courtesy of Troubadour Theater Company and turns the Villa's grounds "into a Freudian carnival of psychosexual madness," writes McNulty. The show pairs Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" with Elvis, the king of rock 'n' roll, to hilarious effect.

McNulty also caught A Noise Within's production of Richard Bean's farce "One Man, Two Guvnors," which is based on "The Servant of Two Masters," Carlo Goldoni's mid-18th-century comedy. The classic commedia dell'arte antics follow a hungry busker who clandestinely works for two bosses in 1960s Brighton. "Bean's play is impressively worked out, mathematically and verbally. The wit is crisp and the comic routines are evergreen, all the more so for the sharpness of the playing," McNulty writes of the show.

I sat down with Manuel and Patricia Oliver at the Kirk Douglas Theatre to talk about Manuel's upcoming performance of his one-man-show, "Guac," which explores the life and death of their son, Joaquin, who was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. Our conversation included plenty of discussion about the Olivers' quest to effect gun reform in the wake of their unimaginable loss. Creative forms of activism — including theater — are at the heart of those efforts.

I also went to opening night of "Hamilton" on the big screen at the El Capitan Theatre on Friday. I wrote an essay about how the live recording of the stage musical might be the most political film of the year. Here's why.

On Thursday, Dwell released its list of "The 25 most important homes of the past 25 years," and three California structures made the list: A-Z West by Andrea Zittel near Joshua Tree; artist Doug Aitken's Mirage, which was featured in 2017's inaugural Desert X exhibition; and the house Axel Vervoordt built for Kim Kardashian in Hidden Hills. Zittel's creations were featured on Dwell's cover in its December 2002 issue and is a series of futuristic-looking "escape pods" that open up to the great outdoors and contain little more than a bed and a few hooks for belongings. Aitken made his mark when he covered a ranch-style house in mirrors that effectively camouflaged the house in its arid surroundings. "The mirrors made for iconic selfies, and onlookers clogged up the once-quiet streets, in an attempt not just to see the installation but to take a picture of themselves reflected in this viral 'house,'" the entry on "Mirage" reads. Kardashian's house is referred to as "The ship that launched a thousand beiges." "Vervoordt, along with Claudio Silvestrin, Vincent Van Duysen, and Family New York, stripped back the details of a generic mansion to create a very strange blend of suburbia and austere European luxury that — for better or worse — set the standard for boring high-end home design in the Instagram age," Dwell wrote.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that it has been gifted Francis Bacon's 1969 triptych, "Three Studies of Lucian Freud," from the estate of philanthropist Elaine Wynn, who died in April and served as a co-chair of LACMA's board of trustees. It is the first work by Bacon in LACMA's collection, and will be included in the inaugural installation of the museum's new David Geffen Galleries. Wynn paid $142 million for the piece at auction.

In the wake of philanthropist Wallis Annenberg's death, the Wallis Annenberg Legacy Foundation has announced a $10-million gift that will be split evenly between four initiatives of great importance to Annenberg: Santa Monica's Annenberg Community Beach House; student internships at USC's Wallis Annenberg Hall; free and low-cost performances for underserved audiences at Beverly Hills' Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; and the Wildlife Crossing Fund in Agoura Hills.

— Jessica Gelt

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