Pianist Valentina Lisitsa, whose performance was cancelled by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra because of her comments on the Ukraine conflict, had been invited to perform a free “special concert” in Toronto on Friday, but now that performance appears to be in doubt.


Valentina Lisitsa posted on Twitter Thursday night that she’ll play at Lawrence Park Community Church in north Toronto.


However, church minister John Suk says they have “not rented the church sanctuary to her” and is checking to see if another renter “squeezed her in” without telling them.

Suk said in an email to The Canadian Press that if the booking slipped past church officials, it will be cancelled immediately.

“We have no interest in identifying ourselves with the attitudes that she has publicly expressed,” he said. “Our values would never allow us to align ourselves with the sort of comments Ms. Lisitsa has allegedly made.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/09/valentina-lisitsa-to-play-at-north-york-music-festival.html