Biography of Daniel Barenboim

Musical Bridge Builder

November 15, 1942 Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on 15 November 1942 to Jewish parents of Russian origin. He began studying piano at age five with his mother, continuing to study with his father, who remains his only teacher. In August 1950, when he's only seven years old, he performed in his first official concert in Buenos Aires. Important influences in his growth as a musician are Artur Rubinstein and Adolf Busch. The family moved to Israel in 1952. Two years later, in the summer of 1954, the parents bring the child in Salzburg to attend courses conducted by Igor Markevich. During that same summer meet Wilhelm Furtwängler, plays for him and participated in some of the tests of the great conductor as well as a concert. Furtwängler subsequently wrote a letter containing the words "at the age of eleven, Barenboim is a phenomenon ...". This sentence opens many doors to Daniel Barenboim for years to come. In 1955 the young Daniel studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He debuted as a pianist in Vienna and Rome in 1952, 1955, in Paris, in London in 1956 and in New York in 1957 with Leopold Stokowski and the Symphony of the Air. From here on out is running annual tour in the United States and Europe. Turns the Australia in 1958 and soon became known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. 4 recording for the first time in 1954 and soon began recording the most important works of the piano repertoire, including the piano sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven. During the same period Daniel Barenboim begins to devote himself to conducting. His close relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra, began in 1965 and lasted for over a decade. After his debut as a Director with the New Philharmonia Orchestra of London in 1967, Barenboim works with all major European and American Symphony Orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he is Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. His operatic debut takes place in 1973 with a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1981 she made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival, where he directs the Nibelungen cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger. In 1991 succeeds Sir Georg Solti as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with which it enjoys countless successes in all the world's biggest concert halls for fifteen years. At the conclusion of his term in June 2006, he was appointed "honorary conductor for life." In 1992 became General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin (Berlin State Opera). In the fall of 2000, he was appointed principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin. Barenboim continues to appear as a guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. In 2006 he was appointed Maestro Scaligero at La Scala in Milan, where he directed the acclaimed production of Patrice Chéreau "Tristan und Isolde" in December 2007. In addition to the indisputable authority in the field of music, Daniel Barenboim is an important figure for international diplomacy, example of Union and peace: he is indeed a Jew, born during World War II, Israeli nationality, which has worked closely for many years with three German orchestras, in an atmosphere of mutual affection and respect. In the early 1990s, the chance meeting in the lobby of a London hotel between Barenboim and Edward Said, the Palestinian writer and Professor at Columbia University, led to an intense friendship that has both political and musical effects. These two men, who were supposed to have distant political ideas, they find in that first interview, which lasts for hours, having similar visions for the future of cooperation between Israel and Palestine. Decide to continue their dialogue and their cooperation within music events, to promote their common vision of a peaceful coexistence in the Middle East. Barenboim organizes as well in February 1999 a first concert in the West Bank, a piano recital at the Palestinian Birzeit University. Organize a workshop for young musicians in Germany, then from the Middle East: in August 1999 this group becomes the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It took two years to organize this workshop and engaging talented young musicians aged between 14 and 25 years, all from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Israel. The basic idea was to combine them together to make music at a neutral venue with some of the best musicians in the world. Weimar was chosen as the venue for the seminar because of its rich cultural tradition of writers, poets, musicians and creative artists, in addition to being the cultural capital of Europe in 1999. The West-Eastern Divan Workshop seminar held in Weimar in the summer of 2000 and again in Chicago in the summer of 2001. After the permanent site is set in Seville, Spain. Every summer, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performs in public concerts. In December 2006, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra went to the United States, performing at Carnegie Hall and ending the tour with a farewell concert at the United Nations for the outgoing Secretary General Kofi Annan. Edward Said died in 2003 but its partnership with Daniel Barenboim lives on through the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and through the Foundation Barenboim-Said, that promotes music and cooperation through projects aimed at young Arabs and Israelis. Barenboim considers very important to attract young people to the music and strongly believes in the power of change that music can bring. To this end he established music schools in Ramallah (2004) and in Berlin (2005). Through the Barenboim Foundation, inspired the creation of a music education project in the Middle East and an Academy of orchestral studies in Seville. Both foundations continue to support music education in the West Bank and in Jerusalem. On March 28, 2008, Barenboim gave a special concert in Jerusalem with Israeli and Palestinian young musicians on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. Both in music and in the diplomatic corps, globally, for his cultural contribution and peace, Daniel Barenboim received a huge number of awards and accolades from Governments and institutions: such as the order of merit of Germany, Knight Grand Cross of the Italian Republic, the Legion of honor in France, Prince of Asturias prize, Wolf Prize in arts , Goethe Medal (Praemium Imperiale), Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, International Service Award for the Global Defence of Human Rights, premium Westphalian Peace.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.