Maestro walks after request to play ‘Hatikva’ for terror victims denied

11 January 2015, 5:49 pm

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A French-Jewish conductor refused to appear at the Israeli Opera for a performance on Saturday evening, after the Tel Aviv opera house’s management denied his request to play “Hatikva” in commemoration of the victims of the terror attacks in France last week.

Parisian-born Frédéric Chaslin had asked to say a few words and play the Israeli national anthem in honor of the 17 people killed in Paris last week — in the kosher supermarket siege and shootout at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, and a policewoman killed separately — but was told the move would upset the audience. He subsequently left the theater, and an understudy conducted the performance.