Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall cancels annual Chanukah concert, citing singer’s IDF ties

JTA – Last year, Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall held its 10th anniversary of a Chanukah concert series that was rebooted 70 years after it was halted by the Nazis, in what some Dutch Jews saw as a repudiation of antisemitism that had swelled during the war in Gaza.

This year, the concert has been called off amidst the prestigious concert hall citing the chosen singer’s ties to the Israeli army.

The Chanukah Concert Foundation, which organises the event, had booked Shai Abramson to sing. Abramson is a retired lieutenant colonel of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who serves as the army’s chief cantor.

The Royal Concert Hall, or Concertgebouw, said in a statement last weekend that it had pressed for months for a change to the programme, and cancelled the concert, scheduled for 14 December, when one was not made.

“This decision was made because it wasn’t possible to reach an agreement on an alternative to the performance by the IDF chief cantor,” the statement said.

It continued, “For the Concertgebouw, it’s crucial that the IDF is actively involved in a controversial war and that Abramson is a visible representative of it.”

The Chanukah concert was rebooted in 2015, 70 years after the Nazis ended the longstanding tradition in the city and murdered three-quarters of the Dutch Jewish population. The relaunch was billed as a chance to connect and celebrate the city’s Jewish residents, a community that has never come close to its pre-Holocaust size.

Now, the Chanukah Concert Foundation said the Concertgebouw was contributing to the “isolation the Jewish community feels it is being pushed into in the current era”, even as the concert hall said it would “always remain a place where the Jewish community is welcome”.

“The Jewish community has been facing exclusion in the cultural sector for more than two years,” the Chanukah Concert Foundation said last week. “It’s ironic that the Concertgebouw – where Chanukah celebrations have been held since 14 December 1921, a tradition interrupted only by World War II – is now confronting the Jewish community with exclusion and isolation.”

The Chanukah Concert Foundation said it would pursue legal action against the Concertgebouw, whose characterisation of Abramson as an IDF representative it rejected.

“He is an independent artist, invited by the state of Israel to sing at national memorial ceremonies,” the foundation wrote in a statement. “Labelling him as an IDF representative fosters unwarranted negative sentiment toward Israel, the Jewish community in the Netherlands, and visitors to the concert, purposely turning this great musical experience into a political event.”

The cantor’s website said his performances around the world were done “with the intention of developing and strengthening ties with Jewish communities around the world, and intensifying connections with Israel and with the IDF”.

The Chanukah concert’s cancellation isn’t the first time the war in Gaza has interfered with plans at the Concertgebouw. In November 2023, a planned benefit concert for Israeli humanitarian nonprofit organisation Zaka was cancelled after the Concertgebouw demanded that half of the proceeds go to a Dutch Palestinian aid group that had been accused of anti-Israel bias. The following year, the concert cancelled performances by a Jerusalem-based quartet citing “safety” concerns over planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Amsterdam has been a hotspot of such demonstrations. Last year, the city was roiled by pro-Palestinian protests, and a soccer game between the local team and Maccabi Tel Aviv sparked antisemitic mob violence against Israeli supporters.

In March, the University of Amsterdam suspended a student exchange with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, accusing the school of failing to distance itself from the war in Gaza.

As for the Chanukah concert, the concert foundation said it would “assume that the concerts on 14 December go ahead, including cantor Abramson” amid its planned litigation.

The Concertgebouw, meanwhile, has removed the concert from its website, where among the other upcoming performances listed are multiple by the Jerusalem Quartet, the group whose concert was cancelled last year over security concerns.

“Making this decision was extremely difficult,” said Concertgebouw Director Simon Reinink. “Only in very exceptional cases do we make an exception to our important principle of artistic freedom. To our great regret, such an exception is now occurring. The intended performance by the chief cantor of the IDF is at odds with our mission of connecting people through music.”