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Official: Israeli Will Not Conduct Concert in Iran

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Israeli-Argentinian conductor Daniel Barenboim is hoping to take one of Germany’s top orchestras to Iran to perform a concert

On Sunday, August 30, the Iranian news agency Fars News, confirmed the official Iranian position on the prospect of Daniel Barenboim conducting a concert in Tehran.

“The conductor of Germany’s symphonic orchestra is affiliated to Israel considering his nationality and identity,” spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Culture, Hossein Noushabadi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday.

Barenboim, an Israeli citizen and one of the world’s most renowned conductors, had planned to conduct a concert, with his Berlin based orchestra in Tehran.

Barenboim’s initiative drew criticism in Israel, most notably from Israeli Minister of Culture, Miri Regev who wrote “Daniel Barenboim’s concert in Iran hurts Israel’s efforts to prevent the nuclear agreement and boosts the delegitimization efforts against Israel.”

“Barenboim has taken an anti-Israel stance and he makes sure to slander Israel while using culture as leverage in order to state his political opinions against the State of Israel,” wrote Regev in an appeal directed at Angela Merkel.

Regev’s appeal did not sway the Germans, as German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, granted Barenboim’s initiative his official patronage and full support.

Barenboim, who is an Argentinian-born Israeli, has gained a reputation both in Israel and abroad as a harsh critic of Israel and Zionism, and as a supporter of the BDS movement. Additionally, in 2008 Barenboim asked for and received an honorary Palestinian citizenship.

However, neither Barenboim’s political and ideological track record nor the support of German Foreign Minister influenced the Iranian government which refused to cooperate with Barenboim’s initiative solely on the basis of his nationality.

Barenboim, 72, who is general music director of the German capital’s flagship opera house, had been in talks with Iran about a possible concert in Tehran by the Staatskapelle Berlin,” according to the AFP.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had agreed to take over the patronage of the concert as he “supports Daniel Barenboim’s dedication to making music accessible to all people, irrespective of national, religious or ethnic boundaries,” the statement said.

Barenboim has also raised controversy in Israel for his avid promotion of German composer Richard Wagner, whose music and rabid anti-Semitism played an influence on the genocidal Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. (INN)

“Germany’s symphonic orchestra can change its conductor and then request a performance in Tehran again, and their demand will be studied only then,” Noushabadi concluded his statement.

(Tazpit News Agency)

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