This biographical article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2011)

Pinchas Zukerman (Hebrew: פנחס צוקר×?ןâ€?, born July 16, 1948) is a violinist, violist, and conductor of Israeli descent. He is considered to be one of the world's preeminent violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works.

Born in Tel Aviv to Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman, Zukerman began his musical studies at age 4, on the recorder. His father then taught him clarinet, and picked up the violin at age 8. Isaac Stern and Pablo Casals learned of Zukerman's violin talent during a 1962 visit to Israel. Zukerman subsequently moved to the United States that year for study at the Juilliard School,^[1] under the tutelage of Stern and Ivan Galamian. He made his New York début in 1963. In 1967, he shared the Leventritt Prize with the Korean violinist Kyung-wha Chung. His 1969 debut recordings of the concerti by Tchaikovsky (under the direction of Antal Dorati, with the London Symphony Orchestra) and Mendelssohn (with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic) launched a successful recording career that continues to the present day and boasts over 110 releases.

Zukerman launched his conducting career in 1970 with the English Chamber Orchestra, and served as director of London's South Bank Festival from 1971 to 1974. In the USA, Zukerman was music director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1980 to 1987. He later directed the summer festivals of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1991–1995) and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1996–1999). In 1999,^[2] he became Music Director of Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO). In March 2012, the NACO announced the scheduled conclusion of his music directorship in 2015.^[3] He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009.

Zukerman is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and is the head and founder of the Zukerman Performance Program at the school. His former students have included Koh Gabriel Kameda, Julian Rachlin, and Guy Braunstein. In 1999 he founded the National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme, which counts young musicians such as Viviane Hagner, Jessica Linnebach, Antal Szalai, and Caitlin Tully as alumni. In 2006 Zukerman began his involvement in the Rolex Artistic Mentorship programme.

Zukerman plays the "Dushkin" Guarnerius del Gesù violin of 1742. His honours include the King Solomon Award, the National Medal of Arts (presented by President Reagan in 1983), the Isaac Stern Award for Artistic Excellence, and an honorary doctorate from Brown University. His recordings have received 21 Grammy nominations, and 2 Grammy wins. He has collaborated with filmmaker Christopher Nupen on several projects, and was the subject of Nupen's "Pinchas Zukerman: Here to Make Music" documentary of 1974. In 2003 he founded a string quintet, the Zukerman Chamber Players, which has released 3 CD recordings in addition to its roster of live performances.

Zukerman has been married three times. His first marriage was to the flutist and novelist Eugenia Zukerman, from 1968 to 1985. The marriage produced two daughters, Arianna and Natalia, who are now both musicians. Arianna Zukerman is a classical soprano, while Natalia Zukerman is a folk singer and guitarist. Zukerman's second marriage was to actress Tuesday Weld from 1985 to 1998. Both marriages ended in divorce. Zukerman and his third wife, Amanda Forsyth, the NACO's principal cellist, live in the Rockcliffe Park area of Ottawa.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Boris Schwarz: Great Masters of the Violin. From Corelli and Vivaldi to Stern, Zukerman and Perlman. Simon and Schuster, New York 1983.
• Darryl Lyman: Great Jews in Music. J. D. Publishers, Middle Village, NY 1986.
• Stanley Sadie, H. Wiley Hitchcock (Ed.): The new Grove dictionary of American music. Grove's Dictionaries of Music, New York, N.Y 1986.
• Kurtz Myers: Index to record reviews 1984-1987. G.K. Hall, Boston, Ma. 1989.
• Alan Rich: Masters of Music: Great artists of work. Preface by Nicolas Slonimsky, foreword by Isaac Stern, photographs by James Arkatov. Capra Press, Santa Barbara, Ca. 1990.

External links[link]

• Pinchas Zukerman on Charlie Rose
• Pinchas Zukerman at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Pinchas Zukerman in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Pinchas Zukerman collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at New York Philharmonic
• Profile at Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Phinehas (Hebrew: פִּינְחָס, Modern Pinəḥas Tiberian Pinchas) was a High Priest of Israel in the wilderness, the grandson of Aaron, and son of Eleazar the High Priest (Exodus 6:25), who distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim by his zeal against the Heresy of Peor: the immorality with which the Moabites and Midianites had successfully tempted the people (Numbers 25:1-9) to worship Baal-peor where Phineas personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were together in the man's tent, running a spear or lance through the man and the belly of the woman ending a plague said to have been sent by God to punish the Israelites for sexually intermingling with the Midianites. Phineas is commended for having stopped Israel's fall to idolatrous practices brought in by Midianite women, as well as for stopping the desecration of God's sanctuary. He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church on September 2.

Name[link]

The Oxford Guide to the Bible and Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew and English Lexicon identify it as a variant of the Egyptian name Pa-nehasi. According to the former, "The Bible also uses Egyptian and Nubian names for the land and its people... For the Egyptians used to these color variations, the term for their southern neighbors was Nehesi, "southerner", which eventually also came to mean "the black" or "the Nubian". This Egyptian root (nhsj, with the preformative p' as a definite article) appears in Exodus 6.25 as the personal name of Aaron's grandson Phinehas (=pa-nehas)"^[1] The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament interprets the name to mean "the bronze-colored one".^[2] Phinehas, like Moses and Nun lived in Egypt and their names were shared by the dominant culture there.

Hebrew audiences may have interpreted the meaning as a compound of Hebrew words: "peh" meaning mouth and "nhsh", a root which produces "nahash", which can mean "snake" or "omen". The root also yields "nehoshet" (copper), "nahush" (bronze) and "nehusha" (copper or bronze).^[3]

Heresy of Peor[link]

The account appears immediately after the story of Balaam, who had been hired by the Moabite chieftain, Balak, to curse the Israelites. Balaam failed to do so, as God had literally put words in his mouth of blessing for Israel, instead (the first prayer said by Jews as part of their daily prayer service comes from this exact text). Having failed to curse them, Balaam left for his own country. The Book of Numbers asserts a direct connection between Balaam and the events at Peor, stating that the Moabites "caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor". (Numbers 31:16) Moses gave orders to kill all the idolaters, yet Zimri, the son of the Israelite prince Salu from the Tribe of Simeon, openly defied Moses and publicly showed his opinion to those standing at the Tabernacle entrance with Moses by going in to Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite prince Sur. In a moment of great strength born of holy zeal, Phinehas went after them and ran them through with a spear simultaneously while they were apparently in coitus. He thus "stayed the plague" that had broken out among the people, and by which twenty-four thousand of them had already perished. (Numbers 25) God noticed that Phinehas showed loyalty and bravery for God. God decided not to destroy all of the children of Israel in anger because Phinehas had made atonement for their sins. God declared that Phinehas and his sons sons for all eternity, to receive divine recognition for this; a Covenant of Peace and the Covenant of an everlasting hereditary Priesthood.

The Christian book of Revelation mirrors this sentiment. (cf. Rev 2:14) Revelation describes Jesus as speaking to one of seven Christian churches: "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality."

Giving a more elaborated version of events, the 1st century Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus asserts that Balaam sent for Balak and the princes of Midian and told them that, if they wished to bring evil upon Israel, they would have to make the Israelites sin. Balaam advised that they send the most beautiful women to seduce the Israelites to idolatry. This strategy succeeded, and soon many of the Israelites had been seduced (see Flavius Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter VI, Paragraphs 6-12).

Later activities[link]

Phinehas also led the Israelite army against the Midianites to avenge this occasion. Among those slain in the expedition were five Midianite kings and Balaam, son of Beor. According to the Israelite roll-calls, the Israelites did not lose a man in the expedition. (Numbers 31)

Phinehas son of Eleazar appears again in the book of Joshua. When the tribes of Reuben and Gad, together with the half-tribe of Manasseh, depart to take possession of their lands beyond the Jordan, they build a great altar on the other side; the remainder of the Israelites mistake this for a separatist move to set up a new religious centre, and send Phinehas to investigate (Joshua 22:9-34).

In addition to these episodes, Phinehas appears as the chief adviser in the war with the Benjamites. He is commemorated in Psalm 106:28-31.

According to Chronicles 6:4-8, his relation to Zadok is the following: Phinehas begat Abishua, Abishua begat Bukki, Bukki begat Uzzi, Uzzi begat Zerahiah, Zerahiah begat Meraioth, Meraioth begat Amariah, Amariah begat Ahitub, and Ahitub begat Zadok.

According to I Maccabees, he is the ancestor of Matitiyahu.

In Jewish culture[link]

Pinchas is the name of the 41st weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Numbers. The beginning of this parshah tells the judgement of Phinehas son of Eleazar; the end of the previous parshah tells of his zealous act.

The Hebrew expression "One who acts like Zimry and asks for a reward as he were Phinehas" (עושה ×?עשה ×–×?רי ו×?בקש שכר כפנחס ) refers to hypocrites who ask for undeserved rewards and honours. It derives from the Babylonian Talmud (Sotah, Ch.22, page 2), where it is attributed to the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus (see Hebrew Wikipedia he:עושה ×?עשה ×–×?רי ו×?בקש שכר כפנחס).

Anti-miscegenation interpretation[link]

At various times, Phinehas and his acts were cited in the United States by the promoters of laws banning interracial marriages. These so-called anti-miscegenation laws were enforced in several US states until 1967. The story is also used by some Christian Identity groups, naming themselves Phineas Priesthood after Phinehas. They also claim that it is a Biblical injunction against interracial couples, transforming a conflict about temptation to idolatry into one about race. This outlook is ironic as Phinehas' name is shared by those in the same period known as Nubians.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.

Zubin Mehta, 2007)

Zubin Mehta (ज़à¥?बिन मेहता); pronounced [ˈzuË?bɪn ˈmeË?ɦt̪aË?] (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Biography[link]

Zubin Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Bombay, British India, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta. His father Mehli Mehta was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Mehta is an alumnus of St. Mary's School, Mumbai, and St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Mehta initially intended to study medicine, but eventually became a music student in Vienna at the age of 18, under Hans Swarowsky. Also at the same academy along with Mehta were conductor Claudio Abbado and conductor–pianist Daniel Barenboim.

Mehta's first marriage was to Canadian soprano Carmen Lasky in 1958. They have a son, Mervon and a daughter, Zarina. In 1964, they divorced.^[1] Two years after the divorce, Carmen married Zubin's brother, Zarin Mehta, now the Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic. In July 1969, Mehta married Nancy Kovack, a former American film and television actress.^[2] Mehta is a permanent resident of the United States, but retains his Indian citizenship.

Conducting career[link]

Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Mumbai, October 2008

In 1958, Mehta made his conducting debut in Vienna. The same year he won the International Conducting Competition in Liverpool and was appointed assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Mehta soon rose to the rank of chief conductor when he was made Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1960, a post he held until 1967. In 1961, he was named assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; however, the orchestra's music director designate, Georg Solti, was not consulted on the appointment, and Solti subsequently resigned in protest;^[3] soon after, Mehta himself was named Music Director of the orchestra, and held the post from 1962 to 1978.

In 1978 Mehta became the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and remained there until his resignation in 1991, becoming the longest holder of the post.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) appointed Mehta its Music Advisor in 1969, Music Director in 1977, and made him its Music Director for Life in 1981.^[4]

Since 1985, Mehta has been chief conductor of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. Additionally, from 1998 until 2006, Mehta was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. The Munich Philharmonic named him its Honorary Conductor. Since 2005, Mehta has been the main conductor (together with Lorin Maazel) of the Palau de les Arts, the new opera house of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, in Valencia, Spain.

Mehta conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert in the years 1990, 1995, 1998 and 2007. He has also made a recording of Indian instrumentalist Ravi Shankar's Sitar Concerto No. 2, with Shankar and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

1990s[link]

In 1990, he conducted the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in the first ever Three Tenors concert in Rome, joining the tenors again in 1994 at the Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles. In between those appearances he conducted the historic 1992 production of Tosca in which each act took place in the actual setting and at the actual time specified in the score. This production starred Catherine Malfitano in the title role, Plácido Domingo as Cavaradossi and Ruggero Raimondi as Baron Scarpia. Act I was telecast live from Rome's basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle on Saturday, 11 July, at noon (Central European Daylight Savings Time); act II was telecast later that evening from the Palazzo Farnese at 9:40 p.m.; act III was telecast live on Sunday, 12 July, at 7:00 am from the Castel Sant'Angelo, also known as Hadrian's Tomb.

In June 1994, Mehta performed the Mozart Requiem, along with the members of the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the ruins of Sarajevo's National Library, in a fund raising concert for the victims of armed conflict and remembrance of the thousands of people killed in the Yugoslav wars. On 29 August 1999, he conducted Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection), at the vicinity of Buchenwald concentration camp in the German city of Weimar, with both the Bavarian State Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, sitting alongside each other. He toured his native country India and home city Mumbai (Bombay) in 1984, with the New York Philharmonic, and again in November–December 1994, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, along with soloists Itzhak Perlman and Gil Shaham. In 1997 and 1998, Mehta worked in collaboration with Chinese film director Zhang Yimou on a production of the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini which they took to Florence, Italy, and then to Beijing, China, where it was staged, in its actual surroundings, in the Forbidden City with over 300 extras and 300 soldiers. for nine historic performances. The making of this production was chronicled in a documentary called The Turandot Project which Mehta narrated.

2000s[link]

Zubin Mehta, 2010

On 29 November 2005 Mehta appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra performing Bruckner's Symphony No. 8. On 26 December 2005, the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Mehta and the Bavarian State Orchestra performed for the first time in Chennai (formerly called Madras) at the Madras Music Academy. This tsunami memorial concert was organised by the Madras German consulate along with the Max-Mueller Bhavan/Goethe-Institut. 2006 was his last year with the Bavarian State Orchestra.

Performance style[link]

Mehta received praise early in his career for dynamic interpretations of the large scale symphonic music of Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Franz Schmidt. His conducting is renowned as being flamboyant, vigorous and forceful.

Honors and awards[link]

Mehta at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2011

Mehta's name is mentioned in the song "Billy the Mountain" on the 1972 album Just Another Band from L.A. by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.

At the Israel Prize ceremony in 1991, Mehta was awarded a special prize in recognition of his unique devotion to Israel and to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1995, Laureate of the Wolf Prize in Arts.

In 1999, Mehta was presented the "Lifetime Achievement Peace and Tolerance Award" of the United Nations.

The Government of India honoured Mehta in 1966 with the Padma Bhushan and in 2001 with India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.^[5]

In 2005, he was voted the 117th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.^[6]

In September 2006 the Kennedy Center announced Mehta as one of the recipients of that year's Kennedy Center Honors, presented on 2 December 2006.

On 3 February 2007, Mehta was the recipient of the Second Annual Bridgebuilder Award at Loyola Marymount University.

In 2007 he received the prestigious Dan David Prize.

Conductor Karl Böhm awarded Mehta the Nikisch Ring – the Vienna Philharmonic Ring of Honor.

Mehta is an honorary citizen of Florence and Tel Aviv. He was made an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera in 1997. In 2001 he was bestowed the title of "Honorary Conductor" of the Vienna Philharmonic and in 2004 the Munich Philharmonic awarded him the same title, as did the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 2006. At the end of his tenure with the Bavarian State Opera he was named Honorary Conductor of the Bavarian State Orchestra and Honorary Member of the Bavarian State Opera, and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Wien, appointed him honorary member in November 2007.

In October 2008, Mehta received the Praemium Imperiale (World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu), Japan.

On 1 March 2011, Mehta received the 2,434th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On 2 October 2011 he received the Echo Klassik in Berlin, for his life's work.^[7]

Films[link]

Mehta's life has been documented in Terry Sanders' film Portrait of Zubin Mehta. A documentary film about Mehta, Zubin and I, was produced by the grandson of an Israeli harpist who played with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra before Mehta assumed the helm. The filmmaker joins the orchestra on a tour of Mumbai and meets with him for two interviews, in India and Tel Aviv.^[8]

In Christopher Nupen's 1969 documentary The Trout about a performance of Schubert's Trout Quintet in London by Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman, Mehta plays the double bass.^[9]

Educational projects[link]

In 2009, Mehta established Mifneh (Hebrew for "change"), a music education program for Israeli Arabs, in cooperation with Bank Leumi and the Arab-Israel Bank. Three schools, in Shfaram, the Jezreel Valley and Nazareth, are taking part in the pilot project.^[10]

He and his brother Zarin constitute the Advisor Council of the Mehli Mehta Foundation.^[11]

See also[link]

• List of Israel Prize recipients

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Martin Bookspan and Ross Yockey, Zubin: The Zubin Mehta Story
• Renate von Matuschka, Die Partitur meines Lebens.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zubin Mehta

• Official website
• Zubin Mehta at Allmusic
• Zubin Mehta at the Internet Movie Database
• Dan David Prize laureate 2007

A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (May 2012)

Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim in Vienna, 2008
Born	(1942-11-15) November 15, 1942 (age 69) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Citizenship	Argentine, Israeli, Spanish, Palestinian
Occupation	Pianist and conductor
Religion	Jewish
Website
www.danielbarenboim.com

Daniel Barenboim, KBE (born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings.

Currently, he is general music director of La Scala in Milan,^[1] the Berlin State Opera, and the Staatskapelle Berlin; he previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris. Barenboim is also known for his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Sevilla-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as an outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Barenboim has received many awards and prizes, including an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire,^[2] France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz and Willy Brandt Award,^[3] and, together with the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Spain's Prince of Asturias Concord Award. He has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography.

Biography[link]

Daniel Barenboim, age 11, with composer Eithan Lustig and the Gadna Youth orchestra (1953)

Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to parents of Russian Jewish descent. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to study with his father, who remained his only teacher. On August 19, 1950, at the age of seven, he gave his first formal concert in his hometown, Buenos Aires.^[4]

In 1952, Barenboim moved to Israel with his family. Two years later, in the summer of 1954, his parents took him to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevitch's conducting classes. During that summer he also met and played for Wilhelm Furtwängler, who has remained a central musical influence and ideal for Barenboim.^[5] Furtwängler called the young Barenboim a "phenomenon" and invited him to perform the Beethoven First Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic, but Barenboim's father considered it too soon after the second world war for a child of Jewish parents to be performing in Berlin.^[6] In 1955 Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.^[4]

On 15 June 1967, Barenboim and British cellist Jacqueline du Pré were married in Israel at a Western Wall ceremony, du Pré having converted to Judaism.^[7] Acting as one of the witnesses was the conductor Zubin Mehta, a long-time friend of Barenboim. Since "I was not Jewish I had to temporarily be renamed Moshe Cohen, which made me a 'kosher witness,'" Mehta recalled.^[8] Du Pré retired from music in 1973, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). The marriage lasted until du Pré's death in 1987. In the early 1980s, Barenboim began a relationship with the Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova, with whom he has two sons born in Paris prior to du Pré's death: David Arthur, born 1983, and Michael, born 1985. Barenboim tried to keep his relationship with Bashkirova hidden from du Pré and believed he had succeeded. He and Bashkirova married in 1988. Their son David is a manager-writer for the German hip-hop band Level 8, and Michael is a classical violinist.^[9]

Barenboim holds citizenship of Argentina and Israel, as well as citizenship of Spain and Palestine,^[10] and lives in Berlin.^[11]

Career[link]

(l-r) Peter Kirchner, President of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker, and Barenboim visit Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weissensee (1990)

After performing in Buenos Aires, Barenboim made his international debut as a pianist in 1952 in Vienna and Rome. In 1955 he performed in Paris, in 1956 in London, and in 1957 in New York under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. Regular concert tours of Europe, the United States, South America, Australia and the Far East followed thereafter.

In June 1967, Barenboim and his then fiancée du Pré gave concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva before and during the Six Day War.^[12]

His friendship with musicians Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to du Pré led to the 1969 film by Christopher Nupen of their Schubert "Trout" Quintet.^[13]

Following his debut as a conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, London in 1966, Barenboim was invited to conduct by many European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris, where he conducted much contemporary music.

Barenboim made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh Festival. He made his debut at Bayreuth in 1981, conducting there regularly until 1999. In 1988 he was appointed artistic and musical director of the Opera-Bastille in Paris, scheduled to open in 1990, but was fired in January 1989 by the opera's chairman Pierre Bergé.^[14] Barenboim was then appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 17 June 2006. He expressed frustration with the need for fund-raising duties in the United States as part of being a music director of an American orchestra.^[9]

Since 1992 he has been music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin State Opera) and the Berlin Staatskapelle, succeeding in maintaining the independent status of the Staatsoper. He has tried to maintain the orchestra's traditional sound and style.^[15] In autumn 2000 he was made conductor for life of the Berlin Staatskapelle.^[16] On 15 May 2006 Barenboim was named principal guest conductor of La Scala opera house, in Milan, after Riccardo Muti's resignation.^[17] In October 2011 he took over as music director,^[1] lining up a starry opening cast in Mozart's Don Giovanni.^[18]

In 2006, Barenboim was the BBC Reith Lecturer, giving five lectures called 'In the Beginning was Sound' from London, Chicago, Berlin, and twice from Jerusalem in which he meditated on music.^[19] In the autumn of 2006, Barenboim gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University entitled 'Sound and Thought'.^[20]

In November 2006, Lorin Maazel submitted Barenboim's name as his nominee to succeed him as the NYP's music director.^[21] Barenboim said he was flattered but "nothing could be further from my thoughts at the moment than the possibility of returning to the United States for a permanent position",^[22] repeating his lack of interest in the New York Philharmonic's music directorship or their newly created principal conductor position in April 2007.^[23] Barenboim made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the House's 450th performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on 28 November 2008.

In 2009, he conducted the New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.^[24] In his New Year message, he expressed the hope that 2009 will be a year for peace and for human justice in the Middle East.^[25]

Musical style[link]

Barenboim has rejected musical fashions based on current musicological research, such as the authentic performance movement. An example is his recording of Beethoven's symphonies showing his preference for some conventional practices, rather than fully adhering to Bärenreiter's new edition (edited by Jonathan Del Mar).^[26] Barenboim has opposed the practice of choosing the tempo of a piece based on historical evidence, such as composer metronome marks. He argues instead for finding the tempo from within the music, especially from its harmony and harmonic rhythm. The general tempi chosen in his recording of Beethoven's symphonies, reflecting this belief, usually adhere to early twentieth-century practices, and are not influenced by faster tempos chosen by other conductors such as David Zinman and authentic movement advocate Roger Norrington.

In Barenboim's recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier he makes frequent use of the right-foot sustaining pedal, a device absent from the keyboard instruments of Bach's time (although the harpsichord was highly resonant), producing a sonority very different from the "dry" and often staccato sound favored by pianist Glenn Gould. Moreover, in the fugues, one voice is often played considerably louder than the others, a practice impossible on a harpsichord, which according to some scholarship, began in Beethoven's time (see, for example, Matthew Dirst's book The Iconic Bach). When justifying his interpretation of Bach, Barenboim claims that he is interested in the long tradition of playing Bach, that has existed for two and a half centuries, rather than in the exact style of performance that existed in Bach's time:

The study of old instruments and historic performance practice has taught us a great deal, but the main point, the impact of harmony, has been ignored. This is proved by the fact that tempo is described as an independent phenomenon. It is claimed that one of Bach's gavottes must be played fast and another one slowly. But tempo is not independent! ... I think that concerning oneself purely with historic performance practice and the attempt to reproduce the sound of older styles of music-making is limiting and no indication of progress. Mendelssohn and Schumann tried to introduce Bach into their own period, as did Liszt with his transcriptions and Busoni with his arrangements. In America Leopold Stokowski also tried to do it with his arrangements for orchestra. This was always the result of "progressive" efforts to bring Bach closer to the particular period. I have no philosophical problem with someone playing Bach and making it sound like Boulez. My problem is more with someone who tries to imitate the sound of that time...^[27]

Barenboim's performances have been criticized. Among musicians, he has a reputation for arrogance and aloofness. Reviews of his work often cite inconsistencies in interpretation and tempo.^[28]

Recordings[link]

In the beginning of his career, Barenboim concentrated on music of the classical era, as well as some romantic composers. He made his first recording in 1954. Notable classical recordings include the complete cycles of Mozart's and Beethoven's piano sonatas, and Mozart's piano concertos (in the latter, taking part as both soloist and conductor). Romantic recordings include Brahms's piano concertos (with John Barbirolli), Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte, and Chopin's nocturnes. Barenboim also recorded many chamber works, especially in collaboration with his first wife, Jacqueline du Pré, the violinist Itzhak Perlman, and the violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman. Noted performances include: the complete Mozart violin sonatas (with Perlman), Brahms's violin sonatas (live concert with Perlman, previously in the studio with Zukerman), Beethoven's and Brahms's cello sonatas (with du Pré), Beethoven's and Tchaikovsky's piano trios (with du Pré and Zukerman), and Schubert's Trout Quintet (with du Pré, Perlman, Zukerman, and Zubin Mehta).

Notable recordings as a conductor include: the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schubert and Schumann, the Da Ponte operas of Mozart, numerous operas by Wagner, including the complete Ring Cycle, and various concertos. Barenboim has written about his changing attitude to the music of Gustav Mahler;^[29] he has recorded Mahler's Fifth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde. He has also performed and recorded the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo and Heitor Villa-Lobos guitar concerto with John Williams as the guitar soloist.

By the late 1990s, Barenboim had widened his concert repertoire, performing works by baroque as well as twentieth-century classical composers. Examples include: Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (which he has played since childhood) and Goldberg Variations, Albeniz's Iberia, and Debussy's preludes. In addition, he turned to other musical genres, such as jazz,^[30] and the folk music of his birthplace, Argentina. He conducted the 2006 New Year's Eve concert in Buenos Aires, in which tangos were played.^[31]

Barenboim has continued to perform and record chamber music, sometimes with members of the orchestras he has led. Some examples include the Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen with members of the Orchestre de Paris during his tenure there, Richard Strauss with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his tenure there, and the Clarinet Trio of Mozart with members of the Berlin Staatskapelle.

Conducting Wagner in Israel[link]

The Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra had performed Wagner's music in Palestine even during the early days of the Nazi era.^[32] But after the Kristallnacht,^[33] Jewish musicians avoided playing Wagner's music in Palestine because of the use Nazi Germany made of the composer and because of Wagner's own anti-Semitic writings,^[34] following an unofficial boycott. This informal ban continued when Israel was founded in 1948, but from time to time unsuccessful efforts were made to end it.^[35] In 1974,^[36] and again in 1981, Zubin Mehta planned to lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in works of Wagner. During the latter occasion, fist fights broke out in the audience and the music was not played.^[37]

Barenboim, who had been selected to head the production of Wagner's operas at the 1988 Bayreuth Festival,^[38] had since at least 1989 publicly opposed the Israeli ban. In that year, he had the Israel Philharmonic "rehearse" two of Wagner's works.^[39] In a conversation with Edward Said, Barenboim said that "Wagner, the person, is absolutely appalling, despicable, and, in a way, very difficult to put together with the music he wrote, which so often has exactly the opposite kind of feelings ... noble, generous, etc." He called Wagner's anti-Semitism obviously "monstrous," and feels it must be faced, and argues that "Wagner did not cause the Holocaust."

In 1990, Barenboim conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in its first appearance in Israel, but he excluded Wagner's works. "Although Wagner died in 1883, he is not played [in Israel] because his music is too inextricably linked with Nazism, and so is too painful for those who suffered," Barenboim told a reporter. "Why play what hurts people?"^[40] Not long afterwards, it was announced that Barenboim would lead the Israel Philharmonic in two Wagner overtures,^[41] which took place on December 27 "before a carefully screened audience."^[42]

In 2000, the Israel Supreme Court upheld the right of the Rishon LeZion Orchestra to perform Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.^[43] At the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in July 2001, Barenboim had scheduled to perform the first act of Die Walküre with three singers, including tenor Plácido Domingo. However, strong protests by some Holocaust survivors, as well as the Israeli government, led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative program. (The Israel Festival's Public Advisory board, which included some Holocaust survivors, had originally approved the program.)^[44] The controversy appeared to end in May, after the Israel Festival announced that a selection by Wagner would not be included at the July 7 concert.^[45] Barenboim agreed to substitute music by Robert Schumann and Igor Stravinsky.

However, at the end of the concert with the Berlin Staatskapelle, Barenboim announced that he would like to play Wagner as a second encore and invited those who objected to leave, saying, "Despite what the Israel Festival believes, there are people sitting in the audience for whom Wagner does not spark Nazi associations. I respect those for whom these associations are oppressive. It will be democratic to play a Wagner encore for those who wish to hear it. I am turning to you now and asking whether I can play Wagner." A half-hour debate ensued, with some audience members calling Barenboim a "fascist." In the end, a small number of attendees walked out and the overwhelming majority remained, applauding loudly after the performance of the Tristan und Isolde overture.^[46]

In September 2001, a public relations associate for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Barenboim was the Music Director, revealed that season ticket holders were about evenly divided about the wisdom of Barenboim's decision to play Wagner in Jerusalem.^[47]

Barenboim regarded the performance of Wagner at the July 7 concert as a political statement, and said he had decided to defy the ban on Wagner when a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.^[48] "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he said.^[49]

A Knesset committee subsequently called for Barenboim to be declared a persona non grata in Israel until he apologized for conducting Wagner's music.^[50] The move was condemned by the musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Zubin Mehta and members of Knesset.^[51] Prior to receiving the $100,000 Wolf Prize, awarded annually in Israel, Barenboim said, "If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don’t want to harm anyone."^[52]

In 2005, Barenboim gave the inaugural Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University, entitled, "Wagner, Israel and Palestine".^[53] During the two-hour speech, Barenboim "compared Herzl's ideas to Wagner's; criticized Palestinian terrorist attacks but also justified them; and said Israeli actions contributed to the rise of international anti-Semitism."^[54]

In 2010, before conducting Wagner's Die Walküre for the gala premiere of La Scala's season in Milan, he said that the perception of Wagner was unjustly influenced by the fact that he was Hitler's favorite composer: "I think a bit of the problem with Wagner isn't what we all know in Israel, anti-Semitism, etc... It is how the Nazis and Hitler saw Wagner as his own prophet... This perception of Hitler colors for many people the perception of Wagner... We need one day to liberate Wagner of all this weight."^[55]

Over the years observers of the Wagner battle have weighed in on both sides of the issue.^[56] In late May 2012, it was announced that a concert with works by Wagner will be performed on 18 June 2012 in Tel Aviv by a full symphony orchestra as part of a day of discussion and music entitled "An Academic Musical Encounter: Herzl-Toscanini-Wagner," which, according to the announcement, will explore "the interesting and intriguing connection between the seer of the state, the conductor Arturo Toscanini and Wagner's music", thus breaking the boycott against Wagner's work in Israel. The discussion will examine the influence Wagner's opera Tannhauser had in inspiring Theodor Herzl during his first draft of his book "The Jewish State," and the way anti-Fascist conductor Arturo Toscanini used Wagner's work to give expression to his humanistic outlook.^[57]

Political views[link]

Daniel Barenboim leads a rehearsal of the West-East Divan in Sevilla, Spain, 2005

Rehearsal of the West-East Divan under the lead of Daniel Barenboim, 2005

Barenboim, a supporter of Palestinian rights, is an outspoken critic of Israel's right-wing governments and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. In an interview with the British music critic Norman Lebrecht in 2003, Barenboim accused Israel of behaving in a manner which was, "morally abhorrent and strategically wrong", and, "putting in danger the very existence of the state of Israel."^[58] However, in 1967 at the start of the Six-Day War, Barenboim and du Pré had performed for the Israeli troops on the front lines, as well as during the Yom Kippur war in 1973. During the Gulf War, he and an orchestra performed in Israel in gas masks.^[59]

West-Eastern Divan[link]

In 1999, Barenboim and Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said jointly founded the West-Eastern Divan orchestra.^[60][61] It is an initiative to bring together, every summer, a group of young classical musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and Arab countries to promote mutual reflection and understanding.^[62][63][64] Barenboim and Said were recipients of the 2002 Prince of Asturias Awards for their work in "improving understanding between nations." Together they wrote the book Parallels and Paradoxes, based on a series of public discussions held at New York's Carnegie Hall.^[65]

In September 2005, presenting the book written with Said, Barenboim refused to be interviewed by uniformed Israel Defense Forces Radio reporter Dafna Arad, considering the wearing of the uniform insensitive for the occasion. In response, Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat of the Likud party called him "a real Jew hater" and "a real anti-Semite".^[66]

After being invited for the fourth time to the Doha Festival for Music and Dialogue with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 2012, Barenboim's invitation was cancelled by the authorities because of “Sensitivity to the developments in the Arab world� after a campain in the media against him,^[67] accusing him of “being a Zionist�.^[68]

In July 2012, Barenboim and the orchestra will play a pivotal role at the BBC Proms, performing a cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies, the ninth timed to coincide with the opening of the London Olympic Games.^[69]

Wolf Prize[link]

In May 2004, Barenboim was awarded the Wolf Prize at a ceremony at the Israeli Knesset. Education Minister Livnat held up the nomination until Barenboim apologized for his performance of Wagner in Israel.^[70] Barenboim called Livnat's demand "politically motivated", adding "I don't see what I need to apologize about. If I ever hurt a person privately or in public, I am sorry, because I have no intention of hurting people...", which was good enough for Livnat,^[71] but the ceremony was boycotted by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, also a member of the Likud party.^[72] In his acceptance speech, Barenboim took the opportunity to express his opinions on the political situation, referring to the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948:

"I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite all our achievements, ignore the intolerable gap between what the Declaration of Independence promised and what was fulfilled, the gap between the idea and the realities of Israel? Does the condition of occupation and domination over another people fit the Declaration of Independence? Is there any sense in the independence of one at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other? Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people? Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic dream of an ideological end to the conflict instead of pursuing a pragmatic, humanitarian one based on social justice?"^[73]

Israel's President Moshe Katsav and Education Minister Livnat criticized Barenboim for his speech. Livnat accused him of attacking the state of Israel, to which Barenboim replied that he had not done so, but that he instead had merely cited the text of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.^[74] In March 2007, Barenboim said: "The whole subject of Wagner in Israel has been politicized and is a symptom of a malaise that goes very deep in Israeli society..."^[75]

Performing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip[link]

Barenboim has performed several times in the West Bank, in 1999 at Bir Zeit University and several times in Ramallah.^[76]

In December 2007, Barenboim and 20 musicians from England, the United States, France and Germany, and one Palestinian were scheduled to play a baroque music concert in Gaza.^[77] Although they had received authorization from Israeli authorities, the Palestinian was stopped at the Israel-Gaza border and told that he needed individual permission to enter.^[77] The group waited seven hours at the border, and then canceled the concert in solidarity.^[77] Barenboim commented: "A baroque music concert in a Roman Catholic church in Gaza – as we all know – has nothing to do with security and would bring so much joy to people who live there in great difficulty."^[77]

In January 2008, after performing in Ramallah, Barenboim accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship, becoming the first Jewish Israeli citizen to be offered the status. Barenboim said he hoped it would serve as a public gesture of peace.^[78] Some Israelis criticized Barenboim's decision to accept Palestinian citizenship. The parliamentary faction chairman of the Shas party demanded that Barenboim be stripped of his Israeli citizenship, but the Interior Minister told the media that "the matter is not even up for discussion."^[79]

In January 2009, Barenboim cancelled two concerts of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Qatar and Cairo "due to the escalating violence in Gaza and the resulting concerns for the musicians’ safety."^[80]

In May 2011, Barenboim conducted the "Orchestra for Gaza" composed of volunteers from the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Staatskapelle, the Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris—at al-Mathaf Cultural House. The concert, held in Gaza City, was co-ordinated in secret with the United Nations. The orchestra flew from Berlin to Vienna and from there to El Arish on a plane chartered by Barenboim, entering the Gaza Strip at the Egyptian Rafah Border Crossing. The musicians were escorted by a convoy of United Nations vehicles.^[81] The concert, the first performance by an international classical ensemble in the strip, was attended by an invited audience of several hundred schoolchildren and NGO workers, who greeted Barenboim with applause.^[82] The orchestra played Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Symphony No. 40, also familiar to an Arab audience as basis of one of the songs of the famous Arab singer Fairuz. In his speech Barenboim said: "Everyone has to understand that the Palestinian cause is a just cause therefore it can be only given justice if it is achieved without violence. Violence can only weaken the righteousness of the Palestinian cause".^[83]

Awards and recognition[link]

• Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz, 2002
• Prince of Asturias Awards, 2002 (jointly with Edward Said)
• Tolerance Prize, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, 2002
• Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize, 2003 (with Staatskapelle Berlin)
• Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal, 2004
• Wolf Prize in Arts, 2004 (According to the documentary "Knowledge Is the Beginning", Barenboim donated all the proceeds to music education for Israeli and Palestinian youth)
• Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005^[84]
• Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, 2006
• Cavaliere di Gran Croce Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, 2007^[85]
• Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, 2007^[86]
• Goethe Medal, Praemium Imperiale, 2007
• Nominated "Honorary Guide" by UFO religion Raëlian Movement, 2008^[87]
• International Service Award for the Global Defence of Human Rights, 2008^[88]
• Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, 2008^[89]
• Istanbul International Music Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009^[90]
• Léonie Sonning Music Prize, 2009^[91]
• Westphalian Peace Prize (Westfälischer Friedenspreis), in 2010, for his striving for dialog in the Near East
• Otto Hahn Peace Medal (Otto-Hahn-Friedensmedaille) of the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN), Berlin-Brandenburg, for his efforts in promoting peace, humanity and international understanding, 2010.
• Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur, 2011^[92]
• Edison Award for Lifetime Achievement 2011, the most prestigious music award in The Netherlands^[93]
• KBE (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), 2011^[94][95]

Honorary degrees

• Doctor of Philosophy – Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1996
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2003
• Doctor of Music – D.Mus., University of Oxford, 2007
• Doctor of Music – D.Mus., SOAS, University of London, 2008
• Doctor of Music – D.Mus., Royal Academy of Music, 2010

Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording:

• Christoph Classen (producer), Eberhard Sengpiel, Tobias Lehmann (engineers), Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Jane Eaglen, Thomas Hampson, Waltraud Meier, René Pape, Peter Seiffert, the Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin & the Staatskapelle Berlin for Wagner: Tannhäuser (2003)

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

• Daniel Barenboim, Dale Clevenger, Larry Combs, Daniele Damiano, Hansjörg Schellenberger & the Berlin Philharmonic for Beethoven/Mozart: Quintets (Chicago-Berlin) (1995)
• Daniel Barenboim & Itzhak Perlman for Brahms: The Three Violin Sonatas (1991)

Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance:

• Daniel Barenboim (conductor) & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 (1992)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

• Martin Fouqué (producer), Eberhard Sengpiel (engineer), Daniel Barenboim, Dale Clevenger, Larry Combs, Alex Klein, David McGill & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Richard Strauss Wind Concertos (Horn Concerto; Oboe Concerto, etc.) (2002)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

• Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Itzhak Perlman & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Elgar: Violin Concerto in B Minor (1983)
• Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Arthur Rubinstein & the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos (1977) (also awarded Grammy Award for Best Classical Album)

In 2005, he was voted the 111th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.^[96]

In 2012, he was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame.^[97]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Daniel Barenboim

• Daniel Barenboim official website
• Daniel Barenboim at Allmusic
• Daniel Barenboim Revealed on CNN.com
• Parallels and Paradoxes, NPR interview with Barenboim and Edward Said, 28 December 2002
• In harmony, [Guardian] newspaper feature on Barenboim and Said, 5 April 2003
• In the Beginning was Sound, 2006 BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures.
• BBC Radio 3 interviews, November 1991
• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
• Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, opus 85 Jacqueline Du Pré with Daniel Barenboim and The New Philharmonia Orchestra on YouTube
• Review: Fidelio played by Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
• Westphalian Peace Prize
• Barenboim's outstanding Beethoven, on the symphony cycle at classicstoday.com
• Daniel Barenboim and Arab Anti-Israel Sentiment: A Classic Example of Political Naivety

Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE (26 January 1945 â€“ 19 October 1987) was a British cellist. She is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor; her interpretation has been described as "definitive" and "legendary."^[1] Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, which forced her to stop performing at 28 and led to her premature death. Posthumously, she was the subject of a cinematic film "Hilary and Jackie", factually controversial and criticized for sensationalising her private life. The film was based on the memoir "A Genius in the Family" published by her siblings Hilary du Pré and Piers du Pre.

Early years[link]

Du Pré was born in Oxford, England, the second child of Derek and Iris du Pré. Derek was born in Jersey where his family had lived for generations. After working as an accountant at Lloyds Bank in St Helier and London, he became assistant editor and later editor of The Accountant. Iris Greep du Pré was a talented concert pianist who taught at the Royal Academy of Music.^[2] At the age of four du Pré is said to have heard the sound of the cello on the radio and asked her mother for "one of those." She began with lessons from her mother, who composed little pieces accompanied by illustrations, before beginning study at the London Violoncello School at age five. Her first teacher was Alison Dalrymple. She attended Croydon High School, an independent day school for girls in South Croydon.

From an early age du Pré was entering and winning local music competitions alongside her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré. Her main teacher from 1955 to 1961, both privately and at the Guildhall School of Music in London, was the celebrated cellist William Pleeth. In 1960 she won the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the same year participated in a Pablo Casals masterclass in Zermatt, Switzerland. In 1962 she undertook short-term studies with Paul Tortelier in Paris, and in 1966 with Mstislav Rostropovich in Russia. Rostropovich was so impressed with his young pupil that at the end of his tutorship he declared her "the only cellist of the younger generation that could equal and overtake [his] own achievement."^[3]

Career[link]

In March 1961, at age 16, du Pré made her formal début, at Wigmore Hall, London. She was accompanied by Ernest Lush, and played sonatas by Handel, Brahms, Debussy and de Falla, and a solo cello suite by Bach. She made her concerto début on 21 March 1962 at the Royal Festival Hall playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz. She performed at the Proms in 1963, playing the Elgar Concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent. Her performance of the concerto proved so popular that she returned three years in succession to perform the work. At her 3 September 1964 Prom Concert, she performed the Elgar concerto as well as the world premiere of Priaulx Rainier's Cello Concerto. Du Pré became a favourite at the Proms, performing every year until 1969.

In 1965, at age 20, du Pré recorded the Elgar Concerto for EMI with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli, which brought her international recognition. This recording has become the benchmark reference for the work, and one which has never been out of print since its release. Du Pré also performed the Elgar with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Antal Doráti for her United States début, at Carnegie Hall on 14 May 1965.

Du Pré performed with several prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, New Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She regularly performed with such famous conductors as Barbirolli, Sargent, Sir Adrian Boult, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Bernstein.

Du Pré primarily played two Stradivarius cellos, the 1673 cello, and the 1712 Davidov Stradivarius. Both instruments were gifts from her godmother, Ismena Holland. She performed with the 1673 Stradivarius from 1961 until 1964, when she acquired the Davidov. Many of her most famous recordings were made on this instrument, including the Elgar Concerto with Barbirolli, the Robert Schumann Cello Concerto with Barenboim, and the two Brahms cello sonatas. From 1969 to 1970 du Pré played a Francesco Goffriller cello, and in 1970 she acquired a modern instrument from the Philadelphia violin maker Sergio Peresson. It was the Peresson cello that du Pré played for the remainder of her career until 1973, using it for a second, live, recording of the Elgar Concerto, and her last studio recording, of Frédéric Chopin's Cello Sonata in G minor and César Franck's Violin Sonata in A arranged as a cello sonata, in December 1971.

Her friendship with musicians Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman and marriage to Daniel Barenboim led to many memorable chamber-music performances. In a book review for two biographies about the cellist, the former wife of Zukerman once wrote that du Pré was "one of the most stunningly gifted musicians of our time".^[4] The 1969 performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London of the Schubert Piano Quintet in A major, "The Trout", was the basis of a film, The Trout, by Christopher Nupen. Nupen made other films featuring du Pré, including Jacqueline du Pré and the Elgar Cello Concerto, a documentary featuring a live performance of the Elgar; and The Ghost, with Barenboim and Zukerman in a performance of the "Ghost" Piano Trio in D major, by Beethoven.

Personal life[link]

Jacqueline du Pré met pianist Daniel Barenboim on New Year's Eve 1966. Shortly after the Six-Day War ended, she cancelled all her existing engagements (to the enormous annoyance of promoters),^[5] and they flew to Jerusalem. She converted to Judaism, and they were married on 15 June 1967^[6] at the Western Wall.

Du Pré’s sister Hilary married conductor Christopher "Kiffer" Finzi, and they had four children. Jacqueline had an affair with Finzi from 1971 to 1972. According to Hilary and her brother Piers in their book A Genius in the Family, which was made into the film Hilary and Jackie, the affair was conducted with Hilary's consent as a way of helping Jacqueline through a nervous breakdown.^[7] In 1999, Clare Finzi, the daughter of Kiffer and Hilary, publicly criticised her mother's account and laid out a different version of events. She said her father was a serial adulterer who had seduced her emotionally vulnerable aunt in a time of great need in order to gratify his own ego.

Multiple sclerosis[link]

In 1971 du Pré’s playing began an irreversible decline as she started to lose sensitivity in her fingers and other parts of her body. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in October 1973. Her last recording of sonatas by Chopin and Franck took place in December 1971. She went on sabbatical from 1971 to 1972, and she performed rarely. In 1973 du Pré resumed performance, but by then her symptoms had become severe. In January she toured North America. Some of the less-than-complimentary reviews were an indication that her condition had worsened, although there were brief moments when she played without noticeable problems. Her last London concerts were in February 1973, performing the Elgar Concerto with Zubin Mehta and the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

Her last public concerts took place in New York in February 1973: four performances of the Brahms Double Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic were scheduled. Du Pré recalled that she had problems judging the weight of the bow, and just opening the cello case had become difficult. As she had lost sensation in her fingers, she had to coordinate her fingering visually. She performed three of the concerts and cancelled the last. Isaac Stern stepped in for her, performing Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

Du Pré died in London on 19 October 1987, aged 42. She is buried in Golders Green Jewish Cemetery.

The Vuitton Foundation purchased her Davidov Stradivarius for just over £1 million and made it available on loan to Yo-Yo Ma. Russian cellist Nina Kotova now owns the 1673 Stradivarius, named by Lynn Harrell the du Pré Stradivarius in tribute.^[8] Her 1970 Peresson cello is currently on loan to cellist Kyril Zlotnikov of the Jerusalem Quartet.^[9]

Controversial book and film[link]

Anand Tucker's controversial 1998 film Hilary and Jackie is based on A Genius in the Family, with Emily Watson as Jacqueline and Rachel Griffiths as Hilary. Although the film was a critical and box-office success and received several Academy Award nominations, it ignited a furore, especially in London, the centre of du Pre's activities. A group of her closest colleagues, including fellow cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and Julian Lloyd Webber, sent a bristling letter to The Times. Clare Finzi, Hilary's daughter, charged that the film was a "gross misinterpretation, which I cannot let go unchallenged." Students from the Royal College of Music picketed the premiere. Barenboim was said to have remarked, "Couldn't they have waited until I was dead?"^[10]

Hilary, Jackie's sister and co-author of the book, strongly defends both the book and the film. She wrote in The Guardian: "At first I could not understand why people didn't believe my story, because I had set out to tell the whole truth. When you tell someone the truth about your family, you don't expect them to turn around and say that it's bunkum. But I knew that Jackie would have respected what I had done. If I had gone for half-measures, she would have torn it up. She would have wanted the complete story to be told."^[11] The New Yorker reported Hilary as saying, "When you love someone, you love the whole of them. Those who are against the film want to look only at the pieces of Jackie's life that they accept. I don't think the film has taken any liberties at all. Jackie would have absolutely loved it."^[12]

Honours and awards[link]

Du Pré received several fellowships from music academies and honorary doctorate degrees from universities in honour of her contribution to music. In 1956 she was the second recipient (after Rohan de Saram in 1955) of the prestigious Guilhermina Suggia Award, at age 11, and remains the youngest recipient. In 1960, she won the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music in London and the Queen's Prize for British musicians. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1976 New Year Honours.^[13] At the 1977 BRIT Awards, she won the award for the best classical soloist album of the past 25 years for Elgar's Cello Concerto.^{[citation needed]}

After her death, a rose cultivar named after her received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.^[14] She was made an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, whose music building bears her name.

In 2012, she was voted into the first Gramophone Hall of Fame.^[15]

References[link]