In a rare statement, more than 700 international musicians condemned “the support of Western powers for the genocidal policy of the State of Israel, which flouts international law and its institutions with complete impunity.” They call on the “Classical” music community to clarify its position on the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Among the signers: Jordi Savall, Adam Laloum, Lucile Boulanger, Lucile Richardot, and Michael Barenboim, the famous German violinist and teacher of the Barenboim-Said Academy, founded by his father Daniel Barenboim, and the famous American-Palestinian intellectual Edward Saïd. Michael Barenboim also plays in the Western-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of Israeli, Egyptian, Iranian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Palestinian musicians.
The statement says the artists and their institutions “have the responsibility to make their stance unequivocally heard in the face of deadly Western imperialist policies, the consequences of which weigh heavily on the peoples of the Global Majority, and in particular on the Palestinian people.” The Classical music community “must know from where it speaks, and ensure that it does not become complicit through silence or inaction.”
