A cracking performance of Brahms’ fortifying Symphony No. 2 rounded off with a much-needed plea from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s principal conductor Ilan Volkov.
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra principal conductor Ilan Volkov made an impassioned post-concert speech to concert goers at the BBC Proms on Thursday night, making a heartfelt plea for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Volkov’s words are transcribed below:
Thank you so much all of you for sharing this amazing music together with us. It’s a real privilege to be here every year with my friends, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In my heart, there is great pain now every day for months. I come from Israel and live there. I love it. It’s my home.
But what’s happening now is atrocious and horrific on a scale that I have …
[some audience members heckle]
[to the hecklers] I know, I know. It’s okay. You can go if you don’t want politics. Politics is part of life every day.
I know, I know that many of us feel completely hopeless in front of innocent Palestinians being killed in 1000s, displaced again and again, without hospitals, without schools, not knowing when the next meal is Israeli. Hostages are kept in inhuman conditions for two years, for two years, and political prisoners are languishing in Israeli jails, Israelis Jews and Palestinians, Israelis Jews AND Palestinians .. you will let me finish, and then you can curse me all your life, no problem …Israelis, Jews and Palestinians, we are not able to stop this alone. I ask you, I beg you all to do whatever is in your power to stop this madness. Every little action counts while governments hesitate and wait. We cannot let this go on any longer. Every moment that passes puts the safety or millions at risk. Thank you.
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