Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim says he enjoyed visiting Egypt for his Cairo Symphony Orchestra concert that ended with rapturous applause. The 66-year-old conductor was invited to Egypt by the Austrian embassy in Cairo and the musician used his time in the country to speak out about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the BBC reported Friday. For 60 years they have been trying with force and they haven't solved anything, Barenboim said while rehearsing for Thursday's successful concert.

German conductor Daniel Barenboim says his participation in the West-Eastern Divan represented his support for peace in the Middle East. By co-founding the youth orchestra in 1999 with late academic Edward Said, Barenboim said he was trying to bring young musicians of Palestinian, Egyptian and Israeli descent a chance to find a common bond, The New York Times reported Sunday. The idea was to give each person a forum to articulate his or her thoughts and beliefs in front of the other, he said.

FRIDAY morning's concert by the Jerusalem Quartet at the Queen's Hall was surely one of the more controversial events at this year's Edinburgh Festival. The Palestinian protesters outside suggested there might be trouble.

By Sue Gyford PROTESTERS were dragged from the Queens Hall and charged with breach of the peace after disrupting a performance by an Israeli string quartet. The protesters, members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Movement, shouted slogans from the audience during yesterday morning's recital.

By MICHAEL CHURCH Classical PROM 64: AIMARD / RATTLE / BERLIN PHILHARMONIC Royal Albert Hall LONDON Sunday evening's Prom brings a key figure back into the frame.