Daniel Barenboim gave his long-awaited first performance in Egypt at the Cairo Opera House on 16 April. Barenboim, conductor and pianist, had planned to make his Egyptian debut in January as part of a world tour with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Arab-Israeli group he founded with the writer Edward Said. But that concert was canceled out of concern for the performers’ safety because of fighting in Gaza.
To a full house of enraptured listeners, Barenboim was introduced to the audience by non other than Egyptian international actor Omar Sharif. Barenboim began with a solo piano performance of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata then conducted the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. He was given a 10-minute long standing ovation, during which he insisted on shaking hands with the members of the orchestra one by one. He told the audience he believed normalisation could not be imposed on people, and had to be the natural outcome of a desire for peace.
An advocate of Palestinian rights, Barenboim last year announced that he had accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship.
Mixed feelings
Yet Barenboim’s reception in Cairo was mixed. While many welcomed him warmly as a practical advocate of peace, many others vociferously claimed the red-carpet welcome he was given in Cairo was nothing but a form of cultural normalisation with Israel. Normalisation is rejected by a majority of Egyptians since it is regarded as condoning Israeli aggression, and is especially condemned by Islamists who strongly support Hamas. Barenboim himself has referred to the three decades of peace between Israel and Egypt as “ice cold,” and many in Egypt prefer to delay closer cultural and other ties until the Jewish state reaches a final peace deal with the Palestinians.
In an act of protest, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, refused an invitation from the culture minister to attend the concert.
Several writers—ironically, they were joined by official Israeli voices—claimed Barenboim’s visit to Cairo at this particular timing was designed to promote Culture Minister Farouk Hosni’s nomination to the top post in UNESCO, a nomination that is mired in controversy. Hosni last year drew Israeli ire when he hotly denied the presence of any Israeli books at any culture ministry institution, promising to burn any such books he found. Even though he tried to ameliorate his image by later granting interviews to Israeli papers and explaining that his words were meant figuratively since he could not impose normalisation on an Egyptian public that thoroughly rejected it, Israel and the United States stood firmly against his nomination to UNESCO.