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Orchestra rebukes flutist’s statements on virus, election

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has distanced itself from its principal flutist over social media posts she made about the coronavirus vaccine and election fraud.

The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that the orchestra acknowledged the posts made by Emily Skala and publicly rebuked them.

Her statements have questioned the safety of the coronavirus vaccine as well as the efficacy of face masks. She also questioned the authenticity of the presidential election results.

The orchestra stated that it does not condone or support her statements.

BSO President and CEO Peter Kjome said the organization would not comment on any potential disciplinary action because it would a personnel matter.

Skala told The Sun that her posts were not meant to offend anyone.

David Clayton-Thomas, powerhouse lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, dies at 84

NEW YORK (AP) — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84. Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died “peacefully” Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause. Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles' “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive. “A lot of the guys (in Blood, Sweat & Tears) would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”
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