A quartet of young Israeli musicians making their Edinburgh International Festival debut today were forced to stop playing on several occasions by interruptions by anti-Israeli protesters. The Jerusalem Quartet eventually completed the concert, but only after repeatedly leaving the stage due to the protestors' shouting and calling. The concert, which featured works by Haydn, Smetana and Brahms, is a part of a Festival programme whose theme this year is "Artists Without Borders."
EdinburghGuide.com reviewer Barbara Bryan, who was at the concert, writes: "The musicians stopped playing, the shouting continued and they left the stage. The man, resisting, was forcibly removed. The players returned, composed themselves and started the movement again. All was well until the third movement when another man burst into the hall downstairs. Again the music stopped, the players walked off, the man was restrained and escorted away."
At one point, Edinburgh International Festival director Jonathan Mills appealed for calm, which apparently had the desired effect.
Bryan writes: "Finally though, the Director of the International Festival announced to
all that there were more movements in the pieces the musicians were
going to play than the number of protestors in the hall and that as the
International Festival had been host to the Palestinian National
Theatre why should not the Israelis also be given a platform. With
these sage words, no more dissenting voices were heard in the hall, and
the Smetana was finished."
The protesters are believed to be from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who had called for the performance to be cancelled.
Read Barbara Bryan's full review of the Jerusalem Quartet