Here it comes, the miracle. Eight musicians walk across the stalls into the light cone of the arena-like Pierre Boulez Hall. Astonished pairs of eyes all around watch as Israeli and Palestinian musicians sit opposite each other in a circle. How the leader Michael Barenboim closes his eyes, the violin in one hand, how he breathes out heavily into this charged air, how he strokes his young, sad face with the other hand. Then he raises his eyebrows and with a glance he directs the group without saying a word. You don’t dare blink, you expect every second that something crazy will happen here today, November 9th, a boycott, boos, someone hoisting a keffiyeh and rambling about colonialism, you don’t know anymore. But then the strings raise their bows, and very quietly, very cautiously, the first notes of Paul Hindemith’s “Mourning Music” penetrate the hall.
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Also, not but – culture
