Music in the middle-east – the thoughts of an iranian pianist

The geographic and ethnic boundaries of Western classical music are being extended. Extended with a purpose. Recently, the Australian Chamber Orchestra featured Palestinian-Israeli pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar. They played the music of Schubert and Messiaen. Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are recording the orchestral works of Beethoven. They have perhaps achieved more towards Middle Eastern reconciliation than teams of negotiators.

Now, Iranian pianist Mahan Isafahani, who will direct the Academy of Ancient Music, from the keyboard in the 2012 BBC Proms, writes in The Guardian, how Western classical music survives in fundamentalist societies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jul/20/mahan-esfahani-proms