A hasty U.S. government bid to be a leader in the fight against poaching and illegal ivory trade has come at a cost for a Canadian musician.
Taddes Korris, a Masters student at the Manhattan School of Music, was set to perform at an audition for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on Monday.
At the last minute, the classical double bass player decided to pull out because he risked losing a key tool for his performance – his bow.
The bow, which he believes was made in the 1940s or 50s, likely contains a small amount of ivory at the tip and in the “frog” – a piece enclosing the tightening mechanism.
The Obama administration announced a new National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking in February and quickly moved to forbid any items containing African elephant ivory from moving across U.S. borders. The restrictions came into enforcement in early March.
There are considerations for musicians who can prove any ivory in their instrument was legally acquired before 1976 and is accompanied by a CITES musical instrument passport. But that’s not easy to get on short notice.
Even with the special document, there are only certain U.S. points of exit and entry you can pass through with the ivory, Korris said.
He purchased the bow from his teacher – principal of the of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York – two years ago. It was made by Italian-American bow-maker Vincenzo DeLuccia. Korris said it’s worth about $10,000.
Value aside, the 25-year-old Edmontonian has been performing with this bow consistently for the past two years. Trying to switch to a new one at a moment’s notice is not on option, he said.
“Each instrument and each bow responds in a specific way,” he told Global News in a phone interview from New York.
“If you change one of those elements … it basically screws you over,” he said.
He compared it to a Formula One race car driver being told to swap for a Honda Civic five minutes before a race.
Korris could have taken the risk of having his bow confiscated at the U.S. border. If authorities found it contained ivory he couldn’t provide documentation for, it would be gone for good.
“I’m in full support of animal conservation,” he said. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a musician who is in any way opposed to what the U.S. is trying to do in principle.”
There was also no way for Korris to audition from New York – via video link or Skype, for example – according to the WSO’s director of artistic operations.
“It’s not possible,” said Jean-Francois Phaneuf. “You have to realize that the quality of sound is only one of the many factors that is considered.”
An audition for the orchestra takes place before a 10-person panel and the musician plays live behind a screen, so his or her identity is not known.
Phaneuf said it’s disappointing Korris couldn’t attend the audition, especially because it’s always a plus to have Canadian performers in a Canadian orchestra.
But Phaneuf also has his own issues with the ivory ban to deal with: The WSO is set to have its first-ever performance in the United states, at New York’s Carnegie Hall on May 8.
“We’re caught in the perfect storm,” Phaneuf said.
The orchestra has approximately 26 bows – for violin, cello or bass – that contain pieces of ivory and one bassoon that also has an ivory component.
So Phaneuf and the orchestra are scrambling to get all of the necessary documents – including proof of origin.
Korris, meanwhile, plans to wrap up his studies next month and has other auditions lined up in the United States. He is working to get his bow analyzed to get the documentation he’ll need to travel with it.
“As a classical musician it’s hard to make a living in this field and it’s frightening when something like this threatens it even further,” he said.
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