Daniel Barenboim
Chef d’orchestre, piano
Hardly any other musician of our time has such an enormous repertoire as Daniel Barenboim. This is all the more remarkable as he continues his first career as a pianist in addition to his conducting career. At the age of only eight, Barenboim gave his first public performance in his native city of Buenos Aires in 1950. In 1967 he made his debut as a conductor, and in the years that followed, took on leading positions, including at the Orchestre de Paris, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at La Scala. His numerous performances at the Bayreuth Festival are also legendary.
From 1992 to 2023, he has served as artistic director and general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. In 1999, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said. In 2015, the Barenboim Said Academy, a training centre for young musicians from the Middle East, opened in Berlin. These initiatives exemplify Barenboim’s commitment to international understanding and the peace process in the Middle East. Barenboim made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a pianist in 1964, and as a conductor in 1969. Highlights of their work together include the orchestra’s first Israel tour and the concert marking the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
