Staff report

A concert planned July 20 at Youngstown Country Club has been canceled after one of the musicians was denied entry into the United States.

The concert by Trio Mente, presented by Simply Slavic, the New Music Guild and the country club, would have featured music by Czech and Slavic composers performed by Jaroslav Skuta, clarinet (Czech Republic); and Meng Yuan, piano, and Dan Qiao, violin (both China and US).

According to Aundrea Cika Heschmeyer, vice president of Simply Slavic and CEO of Marquee Creatives, “Despite carrying documentation proving the non-commercial nature of the performances, he (Skuta) was subjected to hours of interrogation before being deported to Prague.”

Trio Mente also was scheduled to perform in Kent, where Skuta was a graduate student in 2019. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman told the Akron Beacon Journal that Skuta did not have the appropriate employment-based visa to perform multiple events as a professional musician.

In an email Skuta sent to the organizers of the Youngstown event and other concerts on the tour, he wrote, “I am truly devastated. This experience has left me shaken to the core emotionally, mentally and physically. It is difficult to describe the fear and helplessness I felt in that moment, and the profound sense of injustice that still lingers. I had come to the U.S. with genuine intentions: to bring Czech music to Czech-American and other small communities, to share something beautiful and meaningful through chamber music. Instead, I was met with disbelief and mistrust, and our dream of connecting with these communities was taken away in an instant.”

Skuta, who studied music at Kent State University, also wrote, “It is my sincere hope that, in the future, when the climate becomes more welcoming to international artists and cultural exchange, I will be able to return and rebuild what was lost.”