West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

Performers

• West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
• Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor

Program

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
• Symphony No. 4
• Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"

Bios

• West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

  
  For more than 10 years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has been a significant presence in the international music world. In 1999, Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said created the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra-an ensemble that brings together young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and various Arab countries in the Middle East. Its main goal is to make possible a dialogue between the various cultures through the experience of living and playing music together. Mr. Barenboim and Mr. Said named the orchestra and workshop after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's collection of poems entitled West-Eastern Divan, a central work in the evolution of the concept of world culture.
  
  Throughout its existence, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has proved time and again that music can break down barriers previously considered insurmountable. It demonstrates that bridges can be built to encourage people to listen to one another. Music by itself can, of course, not resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, but it can bring home the validity of life experiences and narratives on all sides. The only political aspect of the West-Eastern Divan's work is the conviction that there will never be a military solution to the Middle East conflict, and that the fates of Israelis and Palestinians are inextricably linked.
  
  The orchestra's repertoire expands beyond symphonic works to opera and chamber music performances. Concert highlights have included performances at Berlin's Philharmonie, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, Vienna's Musikverein, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Istanbul's Hagia Irene Museum, Paris's Salle Pleyel, Madrid's Plaza Mayor, and Buenos Aires's Teatro Colón, as well as a concert in honor of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations in New York in December 2006. The orchestra is a regular guest at the BBC Proms and the Salzburg and Lucerne festivals.

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• Daniel Barenboim

  
  Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942. He received his first piano lessons from his mother at age five. Later, he studied under his father, who would remain his only piano teacher. At the age of seven, he gave his first public concert in Buenos Aires. His international debut came three years later with concerts in Vienna and Rome, followed by performances in Paris (1955), London (1956), and New York (1957) under Leopold Stokowski. Since then, he has regularly toured Europe the United States, South America, Australia, and the Far East.
  
  Ever since his conducting debut in 1967 in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Mr. Barenboim has been in great demand with leading orchestras around the world. He was principal conductor of the Orchestre de Paris (1975-1989) and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1991-2006). Upon his departure from the Chicago Symphony, the musicians of the orchestra named him honorary conductor for life. Since 1992, Mr. Barenboim has been general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. In 2000, the Staatskapelle Berlin appointed him principal conductor for life. With the opening of the 2007-2008 season, Mr. Barenboim began a close relationship with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he regularly conducts opera and concert performances, and plays in chamber music concerts as "maestro scaligero." In the autumn of 2011, he was appointed music director of the famous opera house.
  
  In 1999, Mr. Barenboim, together with Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said, established the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He also initiated a project for music education in the Palestinian territories, which includes the foundation of a music kindergarten as well as a Palestinian youth orchestra. He is the recipient of numerous awards honoring his peace efforts.
  
  Mr. Barenboim has published a number of books, including the autobiography A Life in Music and Parallels and Paradoxes, which he wrote together with Mr. Said. In the summer of 2008, his book Everything is Connected was published. Together with Patrice Chéreau, in December 2008 he published Dialoghi su musica e teatro. Tristano e Isotta.

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