tighter security jeopardizing orchestra tours

[niyad]

Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours



By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Published: August 15, 2006
Air travel for classical musicians has never been easy.


Those husky cellos need an extra ticket. Hey, security! Watch that priceless Stradivarius. Double-reed players? They have long given up on carrying aboard those valuable knives and shaping tools used to mold the cane that transforms their breath into lyrical sounds.
And now, with new concerns about carry-on baggage in the wake of Britain’s reported terrorist plot, it has gotten tougher.

Strict regulations imposed last week forced the New York-based Orchestra of St. Luke’s to cancel a long-awaited tour of Britain over the weekend and sent other ensembles with imminent trips, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, scrambling to cope with the new rules.

“I’m heartbroken,” Marianne C. Lockwood, the president and executive director of the St. Luke’s orchestra, said yesterday. “I don’t think I’ve been through 72 more anguished hours in my life.” The orchestra was to have left last Thursday for concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, one of the major summer music festivals.

All travelers in Britain had to adapt to the ban on carry-on items, which was relaxed yesterday to allow one small carry-on. But not all travelers ply their trade with highly personal artifacts made of centuries-old wood, horsehair and precious metals that many musicians are loath to put in the hold.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/arts/music/15tour.html?hp&ex=1155700800&en=537f5d0f6395eb26&ei=5094&partner=homepage