About the Incident at Heathrow Airport

On 9 April 2015, the musicians of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov", divided into two groups, were on their way to a concert tour of countries in South America. One group was on an Air France flight with a connection in Paris; the other took a British Airways flight with a connection in London. For unclear reasons, the latter group, consisting of 40 orchestra members, was removed from the British Airways flight at London’s Heathrow Airport. After a 15-hour wait, the incident was resolved and the musicians were put on the next flight to Rio de Janeiro, then they were taken by bus to Sao Paulo. At the moment, all of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" musicians are in Sao Paulo, where today, April 11, they will play the first concert of their tour schedule. We are pleased to confirm that all scheduled concerts in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rosario and Santiago will take place as scheduled and that there will be no program changes.

The administration and staff of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra "Evgeny Svetlanov" express heartfelt gratitude to the representatives of the Russian Embassy in the UK, as well as to the Police and Immigration Office of Heathrow Airport for their assistance and attention to the musicians who found themselves in a difficult situation.