Israeli orchestra takes on Wagner

JERUSALEM – An Israeli orchestra will perform works by Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, in a taboo-breaking concert in Germany next year, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The Israel Chamber Orchestra will play works by Wagner at the Bayreuth festival in Germany in July, spokeswoman Meirav Magen Lelie said. It will be the first time an Israeli orchestra has played Wagner in Germany.

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has observed an informal ban on Wagner’s music because of its use in Nazi propaganda before and during World War II.

Many Israelis still refuse to buy German-made products, and performances of the 19th-century composer are kept off stages and airwaves out of respect to the country’s 220,000 Holocaust survivors.

Sensitivities are so high that the orchestra won’t even rehearse in Israel and will only practice in Germany a few days before the festival, Magen Lelie said, adding that the move was an effort to alter the perception of the music.

“We would love to change the way his music is conceived,” Magen Lelie said, explaining that she understood the sensitivities of Holocaust survivors and others but said the music should be appreciated for what it is.