Pekka Kuusisto will stop working in the United States, due to the actions of the country’s administration

A violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto tells on social media to stop working in the United States.

The decision is valid for the time being, says Kuusisto, who has worked regularly in the United States for years. He emphasizes that he supports equal human rights and peace.

“My values ​​conflict with the actions of the US administration,” he says in his update.

Kuusisto made his decision a few months ago. He says that if he were to continue working in the United States, 30 percent of his fees would be diverted to the administration through taxation.

“In that case, I would take money from the financiers of symphony orchestras and supporters of the arts, and the administration would use a third of it to kill schoolgirls in Iran, to kill Americans in their own streets, to kidnap leaders of other countries and to destroy the planet. You know what I’m talking about,” says Kuusisto.

Hex tree calls the actions of the US administration “performative cruelty”, and emphasizes that he does not want to participate in its financing.

He adds that he does not want to pressure his colleagues to make the same decision.

However, Kuusisto hopes that American orchestras and the entire cultural field would use their voice to express their opinion.

“The situation would be eased faster if the entire art community said together: no more.”

Hex tree has worked in the United States for almost 30 years regularly at least once a year. He studied in the USA, at Indiana University. Also his father, a composer and music influencer Ilkka Kuusisto (1933–2025) studied and worked in the country.

Kuusisto says that he is in a rare and lucky position, because his finances do not collapse, even though he does not work in the United States.

“If it turns out later that I wouldn’t have been able to afford this, then so be it, at least I’ve been able to participate for 30 great years.”

Kuusisto’s announcement has received mostly encouragement on social media, and many have praised the solution as exemplary.