CANCELLED: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

»I take pleasure in many things in life, but in some form music is my constant companion. This is probably the reason why I have never been able to fully express myself with words like I can with music«. For Daniel Barenboim, music is above all one thing: a deeply human sound that belongs to us like language, emotions, and the totality of life. Barenboim moves the world as a pianist, conductor, and human being.

No wonder he’s been awarded numerous prizes for his efforts to promote understanding between cultures, including the prestigious Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. Whether as chief conductor in Paris, Chicago, or at La Scala in Milan, Barenboim’s musical path has always been unstoppable.

He conducts all the great orchestras of the world, and since 1992 has been artistic director and general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Barenboim has also had an important influence on the Bayreuth Festival and has conducted the legendary New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic several times, an orchestra with which he has a deep artistic friendship.

Moreover, Barenboim has always been involved in social issues. In 1999, for example, together with the American literary scholar Edward W. Said, he founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which consists of equal numbers of Israeli and Arab students and is considered an ambassador for peace in the Middle East. »Our orchestra works because it is not just an orchestra for peace. This orchestra exists to fight ignorance«, says Barenboim.