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An orchestra bringing togethert young Jewish and Arab musicians was to play in Istanbul on Wednesday, its conductor Daniel Barenboim said, despite the absence of some members because of violence in the Middle East.
"We are missing some of our players, some of our friends from Lebanon and from Syria, who for a variety of reasons, as a reaction to the terrible events, didn't feel they could come," said Barenboim, referring to the recent month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded in 1999 by the Israeli-Argentine Barenboim along with the late Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, brings together young Israelis with Palestinian musicians and others from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Spain.
Wednesday's concert, part of a world tour, was due to start at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Wednesday, before an audience of 5,000 at Istanbul's Church of Saint Irini museum.
The programme featured Beethoven's Leonore Overture, Schubert's Trout Quintet and Brahms's first symphony.
The Istanbul stage of the tour was almost cancelled, according to press reports, when a number of Turkish Jewish sponsors withdrew their support, judging a concert by the orchestra inappropriate given the fighting between the Jewish state and the Shiite group.
The Jewish Community of Turkey agreed to back the concert, however, to "make concrete the message of peace while the cessation of hostilities offers new hopes for the Middle East," according to a statement from the group.
Most violence between Israel and fighters in Lebanon ceased on Monday when a fragile truce took hold.
The orchestra's tour is also due to take in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Milan and Weimar in central Germany.
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AFP 161734 GMT 08 06
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