The Amsterdam Concertgebouw has cancelled two concerts by the Jerusalem Quartet, citing safety concerns due to announced demonstrations.

An initial statement issued by the venue earlier today said: 'In order to ensure the safety of our employees, visitors and musicians, The Concertgebouw has chosen not to allow the Jerusalem Quartet's concerts to take place on May 16 and 18. The Concertgebouw has come to this decision because of announced demonstrations and the recent developments surrounding protests in Amsterdam.'

The decision attracted condemnation from leading figures in the music community, with pianist Danny Driver launching a petition calling for the decision to be overturned and accusing the venue of 'pure moral cowardice'. It has subsequently attracted the support of many leading artists and already reached 4500 signatures. 

'We, the undersigned, as musicians and presenters who celebrate mutual respect across different disciplines and specialisations, who regularly collaborate and who draw inspiration from one another, are appalled at the recent announcement of the Concertgebouw to cancel the May 16th and 18th performances by the Jerusalem Quartet,' the petition begins.

'Threats to the safety of musicians, concert hall staff, and the general public, fly in the face of hard-won democratic values and freedom of expression, and should have no place in our society. The behaviour of our arts organisations should reflect this, and should stand up for these values.'

A later statement, from Simon Reinink, General Manager of The Concertgebouw, acknowledged the anger and expanded on the initial decision, adding that a later date would be found for the concerts.

'Over the past months, our intention has been continuously to ensure these concerts would take place, despite the flood of messages from people and organisations opposing the quartet,' the statement said. 'What finally made us decide not to go ahead with these concerts after all has everything to do with the security situation in The Concertgebouw. The Concertgebouw itself is responsible for that. With two simultaneous concerts in the Main Hall and Recital Hall, there are 2,500 people in the building. With that, the security situation can quickly become precarious.'

'Two demonstrations had been announced and several people made calls on social media to demonstrate at The Concertgebouw. Until recently, the demonstrations were peaceful and no reason for us not to allow the concerts to go ahead. However, recent developments in and around the University of Amsterdam made that, after extremely intense discussions, we came to the decision not to allow the concerts to go ahead. We could not guarantee the safety within our building of staff, visitors and musicians. We are very sorry for all visitors and not least for the musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet.'

'It goes without saying that all musicians will remain welcome with us, while we continue to stand by our mission to connect and enrich people with the most beautiful music. In dialogue with the Jerusalem Quartet, it has now been decided that we will look for a new concert date for a concert where safety can be guaranteed,' Reinink concluded.

The Jerusalem Quartet, founded in 1993, have established a reputation as a leading ensemble, earning praise in Gramophone's pages for a number of recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label and elsewhere. Their concerts have previously been the subject of anti-Israeli protests. The Concertgebouw concerts were part of a planned programme of performances throughout the world in coming weeks.