Thursday, October 15, 2009

Mr. President? Mr. PRESIDENT!

Another way to promote world peace: let people visit the U.S. unless there's a clear and compelling reason not to. From a press release:

American Symphony Orchestra Replaces Tenor for Season-Opening Concert on Wednesday, October 14 Because of Visa Snafu

Richard Crawley Will Now Sing Title Role in Opera-in-Concert Performance of D’Indy’s Fervaal at Avery Fisher Hall

Dwayne Jones, a noted Australian singer who resides in London, was unable to resolve a visa and passport snafu and consequently could not get clearance to travel to the United States in time for rehearsals with the American Symphony Orchestra. As a result, the tenor Richard Crawley has been brought in by the ASO to sing the title role in the orchestra’s season-opening opera-in-concert performance of D’Indy’s Fervaal at Lincoln Center. The performance will take place at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, October 14 at 8 PM.

Jones becomes one of an increasing number of artists and performers who have been denied entry to the United States for reasons that are unclear.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall cases of entire orchestras cancelling US tours because they couldn't get visas. ("You haven't proved there's no-one in the U.S. who can do this work.")

Lisa Hirsch said...

If that's the reason they were given, of course it is insane - do you happen to recall which orchestras were involved?

Anonymous said...

It was a while ago ... but it got some headlines in the field at the time.

Elaine Fine said...

He's been an advocate for musicians being able to tour in the US for a long time. It was a major item on his arts agenda during the campaign.

Elaine Fine said...

Barack Obama, that is.

Immanuel Gilen said...

Yes, American visa policies might be strict and not particularly logical, but the idea that orchestras (or for most visas ordinary people) have to prove that there's noone in the US to fulfil their task is an utter and complete myth. Hardly any visas, and particularly no non-immigrant visas I know of, work this way.

It's quite possible, for instance, that Mr Jones' passport was lost or that less than 6 months valid, and hence was unable to procure a new passport and get a visa in time to fly over. It's a bit presumptuous to assume that this is the fault of US immigration policies.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Certainly that could be the situation. But the press release I quoted implies - perhaps in error - that a visa was denied for some unclear reason.