Conductor Daniel Barenboim criticized Israel on Monday for preventing a Palestinian musician from entering the Gaza Strip for a concert.
Barenboim said his group of about 20 musicians from England, the United States, France and Germany, as well the Palestinian musician, had been authorized by Israeli authorities to travel to Gaza for a baroque music festival, where they were to play on Sunday.
Maestro Daniel Barenboim, centre, conducts his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra during a rehearsal at the Salzburg Festival in August.
(Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)
But the musician was stopped at the Israel-Gaza border and informed he needed individual permission to enter. The group was held for seven hours at the border, then cancelled its concert in solidarity.
"A baroque music concert in a Roman Catholic church in Gaza — as we all know — has nothing to do with security and would bring so much joy to people who live there in great difficulty," said Barenboim, who for years has been critical of Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.
The Jewish conductor, who was born in Buenos Aires but grew up in Israel, called on the Israelis to support humanitarian and cultural projects in the Palestinian territories.
Related
Internal Links
More Music Headlines »
- Dutch conductor de Waart to take baton of Milwaukee Symphony
- Edo de Waart, chief conductor and artistic director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, will also become music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
- Live Earth wins new award for 'green' music events
- Midem, an international trade show for the music industry, has created a new award designed to honour figures who advance ecologically-friendly live music events.
- MC Hammer back with dance website
- Former rapper MC Hammer is taking on YouTube with plans for a new website dedicated to dance videos.
- Free Oscar Peterson tribute concert set for Toronto
- A memorial concert celebrating the life of the late jazz great Oscar Peterson is being organized for next week in Toronto.
- James Brown's final recordings locked in fight over estate: lawyer
- A lawyer for James Brown says the legal feud over the singer's estate is stalling the release of the soul legend's final recordings.
More Arts Headlines »
- Stinky Cheese man named U.S. kids' books ambassador
- Jon Scieszka, author of such bestselling picture books as The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, has been named the ambassador for children's books in the U.S.
- Expect pickets at Golden Globes, striking writers say
- The Writers Guild of America is saying no deal to Golden Globe Awards organizers, who had hoped to negotiate a ceremony without a picket line.
- Sean Penn to head Cannes festival jury
- American actor and director Sean Penn will head the awards jury at the Cannes Film Festival this year, organizers announced Thursday.
- Artists face charges over fake nuclear blast on Czech TV
- A group of Czech artists who staged a fake nuclear blast over national television will be sent to criminal trial, a state prosecutor said Thursday.
- CTV buys U.S. series Mad Men
- Private broadcaster CTV has added to its slate of U.S.-produced shows with the purchase of the Golden Globe-nominated series Mad Men.
Arts Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles