The Israel Chamber Orchestra is to play at Germany's prestigious Bayreuth festival of Wagnerian music, in a rare breach of an Israeli taboo against performing the rabidly anti-Semitic composer's work.
"The orchestra will play at the opening of the festival," Erella Talmi, the chairwoman of the orchestra's board of directors, told Israeli army radio on Tuesday.
She said the decision to take part next summer was the result of an invitation from Wagner's great-granddaughter, Katerina Wagner to the Israeli ensemble's musical director, Austrian conductor Roberto Paternostro.
She said that Wagner was trying to shake up the event, traditionally attended by what she called an "elitist" audience.
"The decision was not to break a taboo," Talmi added. "The decision was to accept an invitation that showed a new openness."
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