Promoter says UK visa refusals for Ukrainian orchestra resulted in losses of over €100,000

completemusicupdate.com:

Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky Orchestra were forced to postpone some UK shows earlier this month after some of its members were refused visas to enter the country.

Promoter Star Entertainment says that resolving the situation has cost it over €100,000.The orchestra was due to begin a tour of the UK on 1 Apr with two shows playing music from the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Lord Of The Rings’ films.

However, the day before the first performance, several key members had still not been granted visas, Star has now revealed.Three days later they were informed that they would have to pay €15,000 for emergency visas, which still were not issued in the 24 hour timeframe promised.

Star says that it only managed to secure the visas after it asked the British embassy to provide a statement to include in a press release informing the media of the issues.This situation is particularly irritating, the company says, because the British government had previously promoted the tour on its website as an example of how good British-Ukrainian relations are right now.“They made a big deal out of supporting the Ukrainians but when it came to giving them visas to play in the UK, they didn’t want to know”, Star’s chief executive Jaka Bizilj tells The Guardian.“Those responsible for cutting off artists and culture from the UK should be named and held accountable”, he adds.