For the record, I opposed the New York Philharmonic’s trip to North Korea in 2008, and I think it’s fair to say that many of those in the music world thought it was a splendid idea (Terry Teachout and Norman Lebrecht being notable exceptions). My reasoning included the fact that, although Lorin Maazel mouthed some platitudes about music remaining apolitical, Maazel himself politicized the event before embarking, equating North Korea’s human-rights record with our own:
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw bricks, should they?” Mr. Maazel demanded. “Is our standing as a country — the United States — is our reputation all that clean when it comes to prisoners and the way they are treated? Have we set an example that should be emulated all over the world? If we can answer that question honestly, I think we can then stop being judgmental about the errors made by others.”
Now comes this report on Clare College Choir’s planned trip to Israel.
The College Choir plans to visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Karmiel, performing J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, during their tour, which will last from December 23rd to 29th. On Christmas Eve they will be singing in the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, followed by Midnight Mass in Jerusalem.
Some are condemning the tour:
Concerns revolve around the tour’s potential political implications. Signatory Dr Raymond Deane, an Irish composer and political activist, told Varsity, “Those of us involved in culture can’t stand back and pretend that we inhabit some ethereal realm remote from the real world. Tours by artists such as the Choir of Clare College will be exploited by the lavishly funded Israeli propaganda machine as proof of the ‘normality’ and ‘acceptability’ of the Israeli rogue state – which is neither normal nor acceptable.”
What’s the difference between this trip and the New York Philharmonic’s trip to North Korea? Just to name a few: (a) performing a Christmas concert in the Holy Land has a bit more cultural grounding than performing Beethoven in Pyongyang; (b) Israel, a democracy with a free press, can express varying views on the visit whereas only one account of the Philharmonic’s visit would emerge from North Korea; (c) the Israeli government fosters a free exchange of cultural offerings.
But this is likely to be one of those instances in which people who opposed the New York Philharmonic trip to North Korea will support the Clare College Choir trip to Israel, and vice versa. And some will note that I am one of those people.
Quite right. While I generally support artistic exchanges, I think there is a fundamental difference between touring a democratic state with which the free world has diplomatic relations and touring a slave state with no diplomatic ties. I am happy to part company with the nihilists who can’t see that distinction, and to part company with those who would deny Israel a right to defend its citizens from the never-ceasing terrorist campaign aimed against it.
I might even change my mind about North Korea, if it were to host a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in a Christian Church at which its citizens were free to worship. But unlike Israel . . .
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