On international Children’s Day, September 20, an initiative called “Music for Humanity” organized classical concerts in at least two German cities, Berlin and Rostock. The participants include musicians from different philharmonics and opera houses. One initiator is Arthur Hornig, first principal cellist of Deutsche Oper, in Berlin. He said that he and another cellist founded the initiative because they could not play their music according to protocol while people are starving in Gaza and dying through bombs. The slogans of their initiative are: “If humanity is violated, art is not allowed to stay silent” and “Music against Silence.” The initiative collaborated closely with SOS Children’s Villages, a NGO dedicated to abandoned children.
One musician who joined the initiative and was the patron for the Berlin event, is Michael Barenboim, son of Daniel Barenboim, Professor for Violin and founder of the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble (for chamber music). Barenboim was interviewed by Deutschlandfunk national national radio station on the event in Berlin (at Gendarmenmarkt, on the steps of the opera house, with the Schiller statue attending, too). The moderator asked him why they played melancholy music like Beethoven’s Symphony 7 and Mozart’s Lacrimosa. Barenboim replied that they wanted to express the dire situation, but they also performed Arab music and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet #8, which was written against fascism. The moderator did acknowledge that the UN says that there is a genocide and that Germany stopped the delivery of weapons that could be used in war. Barenboim corrected her: While there will be no new export permits, weapons that already have the permit will be delivered.
The moderator stuck to the line on Hamas, asking Barenboim if he is not concerned about rising antisemitism. Barenboim responded that “Hamas, Hamas” is a line to distract from thinking about the genocide, and if the moderator thinks that it all started on October 7, 2023, she must have been sleeping for the last 77 years, or is willfully silent at least about the complete blockade on Gaza since 2006. He said that it’s been clear for two years that Israel is committing a genocide, and that 153 nations have signed the Genocide Convention, making it is their absolute duty to stop a genocide, no matter in whose name it is committed. He said that he is a co-initiator of the All Eyes on Gaza rally next Saturday, September 27 in Berlin.
