Air travel for classical musicians has never been easy.
Those husky cellos need an extra ticket. Hey, security! Watch that priceless Stradivarius. Double-reed players? They have long given up on carrying aboard those valuable knives and shaping tools used to mold the cane that transforms their breath into lyrical sounds.
And now, with new concerns about carry-on baggage in the wake of Britain's reported terrorist plot, it has gotten tougher.
Strict regulations imposed last week forced the New York-based Orchestra of St. Luke's to cancel a long-awaited tour of Britain over the weekend and sent other ensembles with imminent trips, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, scrambling to cope with the new rules.
"I'm heartbroken," Marianne C. Lockwood, the president and executive director of the St. Luke's orchestra, said Monday. "I don't think I've been through 72 more anguished hours in my life." The orchestra was to have left last Thursday for concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, one of the major summer music festivals.
All travelers in Britain had to adapt to the ban on carry-on items, which was relaxed Monday to allow one small carry-on. But not all travelers ply their trade with highly personal artifacts made of centuries-old wood, horsehair and precious metals that many musicians are loath to put in the hold.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says on its Web site that musical instruments are generally allowed in the cabin in addition to a carry-on bag and a personal item, but it leaves size requirements and permission for the carry-on to the airlines.
The new regulations have, for now, increased the complications.
The Bolshoi opera and ballet, which have been performing at the Royal Opera House in London, will send their orchestra's instruments back to Moscow by ferry and truck at the end of the week if the restrictions are not relaxed, said Faith Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Bolshoi's promoter at the house, Victor Hochhauser Presents. The Bolshoi orchestra's chief conductor, Alexander Vedernikov, had been quoted as saying that the musicians' contract requires them to keep their instruments with them.
"Clearly this is a very unusual situation," Wilson said. "I'm sure there are insurance issues, but I don't think anybody's ever had to cope with the security restrictions that we're up against."