Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, born in Buenos Aires in 1942, started piano lessons at the age of five and gave his first official concert in 1950. He made his debut as a pianist in Vienna and Rome in 1952. In 1954, he took part in Igor Markevitch’s conducting classes in Salzburg and played for Wilhelm Furtwängler, who described him as ‘a phenomenon’. In 1955 he studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
He made his first recordings in 1954 and during this time he began devoting more time to conducting, conducting the English Chamber Orchestra for over a decade. Following his debut as a conductor with London’s Philharmonic Orchestra in 1967, Daniel Barenboim was in demand by the leading European and American symphony orchestras; from 1975 until 1989 he was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.
He made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh International Festival and his Bayreuth debut in 1981.
In 1999 Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, the Palestinian intellectual who died in 2003, founded the West-Eastern Divan Workshop, which each summer invites young musicians from Israel and the Middle East to form an orchestra. In 2003 the orchestra played for the first time in an Arab country in the city of Rabat, at King Muhammed VI’s invitation. The workshop does not wish to express any political statements and its aim is to set an example of the dialogue of cultures. Both Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said have received a number of awards in recognition of their endeavour towards peace.
Daniel Barenboim recently published his autobiography ‘A Life in Music’ and ‘Parallels and Paradoxes’ which he wrote with Edward Said.
Recently he initiated a programme for musical education to be developed in the Palestinian Territories. The aim is to teach music in schools as a concept to be used throughout the whole education process. He is also committed to helping the National Conservatory of Music establish a full Palestinian Youth Orchestra.
In 2003 he was awarded a Grammy for Wagner’s ‘Tannhäuser’ and the Staatskapelle Berlin received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize.
Mr Barenboim is currently General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and in 2000 the Staatskapelle Berlin elected him Chief Conductor for life. He was Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 15 years until June 2006 and from 2006/07 onwards he will develop a close relationship with La Scala, Milan. |