Emily Skala
Posted on 08/05/2021 2:32:43 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
A flutist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra who was publicly rebuked for her social media posts has been fired.
Emily Skala, whose posts on COVID-19 and November’s presidential election led the orchestra to distance itself from her in February, was terminated in accordance with its “progressive discipline policy,” the Baltimore Sun reported.
Skala has had discipline imposed upon her over these past few months,” BSO’s president and CEO, Peter Kjome, said. “Unfortunately, she has repeated the conduct for which she had been previously disciplined, and dismissal was the necessary and appropriate reaction to this behavior.”
Skala, 59, said, "I’m not going to sit passively by. The BSO can expect to hear from me.”
Skala said she thinks her firing was connected to her decision to not wear a mask during a visit to Meyerhoff Symphony Hall to hand in a new W-4 form.
She didn’t plan to go inside, but found her keycard had been deactivated when she tried to open the door.
Skala believes BSO officials considered that to be a violation of her suspension, which barred her from the building.
“It’s clear I have been a target at the BSO for quite some time,” Skala said. “From February until now, the BSO has repeatedly violated my constitutional rights in response to audience and donor and subscriber pressure .”
Skala said “I’m definitely being unfairly labeled for my views.:”
Skala had previously shared a link on Twitter claiming the “mask thing is a sinister fraud” and that doctors and nurses doling out the COVID-19 vaccine would ultimately be “tried as war criminals.”
The flutist raised eyebrows for retweeting links from anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Skala said she’s looking for a new gig, but recognizes the search won’t be easy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Emily Skala
She will probably never play with another orchestra, given her age.
Orchestras prefer very young players.
But this is another example (from tens of thousands) of people losing their jobs over politics.
She didn’t plan to go inside, but found her keycard had been deactivated when she tried to open the door.
That seems internally contradictory.
Also, I find it highly ironic that the Left is now cancelling people, in part, because they agree with a member of the Kennedy family.
Kennedy gets the vaxx issue right, but still he cannot break free from the Democrat party. I can't figure people like him out.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra drops Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa over offensive comments
The Canadian Press Apr 07, 2015
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tso-drops-ukrainian-pianist-valentina-lisitsa-over-offensive-comments-1.3022999
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s decision to cancel performances by a Ukrainian-born pianist over what it calls her “deeply offensive language” is part of a troubling phenomenon that could lead artists to self-censor, civil rights advocates said Tuesday.
Valentina Lisitsa, an ethnic Russian born in Ukraine who now lives in the United States, said in a Facebook post that she has been accused of “inciting hatred” on Twitter because of her comments on the conflict in Ukraine.
I think there is a problem with the message that this sends to artists that they may have trouble getting jobs or keeping jobs if they express views that are unpopular or controversial
- Cara Zwibel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, on the TSO’s decisionL
While it’s not uncommon for workers to be penalized for expressing opinions on social media that reflect poorly on their employer, it’s difficult to make that case for Lisitsa, said Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
“It’s hard to see the connection between what she said and what the duties of her job are and how it would affect it,” Zwibel said.
Valentina Lisitsa and TSO president talk to CBC’s Carol Off about her comments and the backlash
“If the idea is just that the orchestra wants to avoid controversy, I don’t find that a particularly compelling reason. The fact that maybe there would be some people protesting is, again, not a reason to let her go,” she said.
“I think there is a problem with the message that this sends to artists that they may have trouble getting jobs or keeping jobs if they express views that are unpopular or controversial.”
Speaking out against ‘atrocities’
In her post, Lisitsa said she has been speaking out against the “atrocities” of the civil war, particularly those committed against the Russian minority in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.
Valentina Lisitsa received support on social media on Monday night following the decision by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. (Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images)
She said she has been “watching helplessly” as her country slides “ever faster into the abyss” and had taken to Twitter “to get the other side of the story heard.”
In a statement released to various media outlets, TSO president and CEO Jeff Melanson said Lisitsa has been replaced due to “ongoing accusations of deeply offensive language by Ukrainian media outlets.”
“As one of Canada’s most important cultural institutions, our priority must remain on being a stage for the world’s great works of music, and not for opinions that some believe to be deeply offensive,” he said.
Lisitsa wrote that someone in the TSO decided she should not be allowed to play “likely after the pressure from a small but aggressive lobby claiming to represent (the) Ukrainian community.”
She added that the TSO will pay her not to perform because she exercised her right to free speech.
The TSO said Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 will go ahead Wednesday and Thursday as planned, but will be performed instead by Toronto pianist Stewart Goodyear.
The controversy sparked a public debate online, with many defending Lisitsa’s right to free speech while others hailed the orchestra’s decision.
“The decision to cancel @ValLisitsa’s concert in Toronto is a black stain upon the @TorontoSymphony and Canada. #LetValentinaPlay,” one wrote.
“Good job @TorontoSymphony! Ban those hate and propaganda spreaders,” another message read.
Performed on Saturday
Lisitsa performed in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Saturday and organizers said they were saddened by the controversy.
Christine Mori, founder and artistic director for Bravo Niagara!, said she was aware of Lisitsa’s tweets before booking the concert, but didn’t feel it warranted intervention.
“I knew that there might be some backlash because of her political statements that she was making, but we did not get involved in that and I do believe in freedom of speech,” she said Tuesday.
“She did not speak politically at all at the concert...and we presented her as Valentina the pianist.”
Mori said she hoped Lisitsa’s other Canadian performances would still go ahead.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s president and CEO, Peter Kjome, said.
“Unfortunately, she has repeated the conduct for which she had been previously disciplined, and dismissal was the necessary and appropriate reaction to this behavior.”
Note tagline.
RFK Jr. makes money by feigning outrage, and suing or shaking down big companies.
Predatory trial lawyers have long been a Democratic Party constituency, cutting politicos in for a share of the takings, in return for them appointing cooperative judges and regulators. It is an old racket.
Incredibly talented and dedicated pianist.
Valentina Lisitsa plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody
And that's why he has spent the last 20 years exposing the vaxxine industry? Please try again.
“NOTHING MAKES SENSE”: MANITOBA MAN FIRED FOR ATTENDING LOCKDOWN PROTEST
> Aug 4, Rebel News [Watch until it’s banned.]
[Canada: Attend an outdoor freedom rally? LOSE YOUR JOB!]
https://www.bitchute.com/video/nbvEucKn2ik/
The thought control commissars are everywhere and are morphing into the Borg.
Sure seems so.
“When injustice becomes law, resistence becomes duty.”
A minor note in a major story:
I believe the correct term for one who plys the flute is Flautist.
One of my favorite pieces is Mozart’s flute and harp concerto. He only did one using both flute and harp.
The Baltimore Symphony (of all things) must really fear there’s a problem with the 2020 election to do stuff like this.
Great flutist James Falway disagrees with you.
Galway says:
“I am a flute player, not a flautist. I don’t have a flaut, and I’ve never flauted.”
The symphony is a bastion of Marxist ideology. How else could it sound symphonic? Politics, not aesthetics, guides the Balt symphony.
If that’s what the internationaly known Mr.Galway stated, then he wins. Checkmate.
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