Barenboim conducted the Divan Orchestra in a concert in Ramallah in 2005.
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Germany should not send the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra to Iran, which will not allow Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim to perform, Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev said Sunday.
Before the Islamic Revolution, and for a limited time after, Iran attracted a range of world-renowned musicians, including violinist Yehudi Menuhin, but cultural exchanges were sidelined under the hard-line leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “I believe that Germany would be acting rightly if it were to cancel the appearance of the orchestra and its conductor”.
But spokesman Hussein Nushabadi rejected the symbolic gesture with the statement: “Iran does not recognize the Zionist regime (Israel) and will not work together with artists of this regime”. He has attempted to have the music of anti-Semitic German composer Richard Wagner in Israel.
The Israeli-Argentinian conductor is an outspoken critic of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians and Jewish settlement building in the West Bank. She said she would write to the German government to protest against its support for the concert.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is expected in October to travel to Tehran following a July 14 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, had agreed to back the concert.
“It’s unfortunate that the Iranians said “No to Israel” before our friend Germany said ‘No to Iran, ‘” Regev remarked.
The prominent Jewish rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also lashed out at the concert plans.
The event would be significant in Israeli eyes given that renowned pianist Daniel Barenboim now serves as musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic.
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The Centre urged the Chancellor “to reconsider the mission to Tehran and, above all, to cancel this embellishment – under the cover of music – of Iran’s constantly declared nuclear genocidal design to destroy Israel”.
