Image by getty images

Star conductor Daniel Barenboim is holding talks to take one of Germany’s main orchestras to Iran, his employer Berlin State Opera said on Thursday, in the face of angry protests from Israel.

The opera said the plans by its Israeli-Argentinian musical director had the full backing of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, setting up a possible confrontation with Israel which called the state support for the trip a “mistake.”

The announcement of the visit comes at a particularly sensitive time for Israel, which is concerned that last month’s nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including Germany, could empower one of its main enemies and ease Tehran’s international isolation.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The 72-year-old conductor and pianist has also been an outspoken critic of Israel’s Palestinian policies.

“Barenboim draws an anti-Israel line and makes sure to slander Israel while using culture to leverage his political opinions against Israel,” Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev said on Facebook on Wednesday as news of the trip first emerged.

She said she would write to the German government to protest against its support for the concert.

The German opera issued a statement saying: “Steinmeiner supports the efforts of Daniel Barenboim to make music accessible across national, religious and ethnic borders.”

The German foreign ministry declined comment on Thursday, but Steinmeier is due to travel to Iran himself in October.

His cabinet colleague Sigmar Gabriel, the economy minister, visited Tehran in July with a small delegation of business representatives days after the nuclear deal, drawing criticism from Israeli leaders.

Berlin’s support for the nuclear deal has tested the close ties Germany has cultivated with Israel since World War Two, when the Nazis killed six million Jews.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount