Amid turmoil, Lebanese music festival presses on

The New York Times

BAALBEK, Lebanon — Under the towering columns of the Roman temples here, the Baalbek International Festival over the years has brought the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, Miles Davis, Sting and the Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum for an annual musical celebration that for many Lebanese symbolizes the openness and cultural richness that coexists with their country’s periodic instability and war.

But this year, war — this time in neighboring Syria — has the upper hand. It has forced the festival — not for the first time in its history — to change course. First, as ripples from the conflict edged closer to Baalbek, near the Syrian border in the Bekaa Valley, security concerns cost the festival a major performer, the soprano Renée Fleming. Next, the festival committee reluctantly moved the remaining concerts, which start on Aug. 17, to a 19th-century former silk factory on the outskirts of the capital, Beirut.

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