Great Festival Hall, Salzburg

The Salzburg Festival (German: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One highlight is the annual performance of the Everyman (Jedermann) dramatization by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Since 1967 there is also an annual Salzburg Easter Festival held by the same organization.

History[link]

Music festivals had been held in Salzburg at irregular intervals since 1877 held by the International Mozarteum Foundation, but discontinued in 1910. Although a festival was planned for 1914, it was cancelled at the outbreak of World War I. In 1917, Friedrich Gehmacher and Heinrich Damisch formed an organization known as the Salzburger Festspielhaus-Gemeinde to establish an annual festival of drama and music, emphasizing especially the works of Mozart.^[1] At the close of the war in 1918, the festival's revival was championed by five men now regarded as the founders: the poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the composer Richard Strauss, the scenic designer Alfred Roller, the conductor Franz Schalk, and the director Max Reinhardt, then intendant of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, who had produced the first performance of Hofmannsthal's Jedermann at the Berlin Zirkus Schumann arena in 1911.

Cathedral Square

The Salzburg Festival was officially inaugurated on 22 August 1920 with Reinhardt's performance of Hofmannsthal's Jedermann on the steps of Salzburg Cathedral, starring Alexander Moissi. The practice has become a tradition, and the play is now always performed at Cathedral Square, from 1921 accompanied by several performances of chamber music and orchestra works.

A first festival hall, the present-day Haus für Mozart, was erected in 1925 at the former Archbishops' horse stables on the northern foot of the Mönchsberg mountain according to plans by Clemens Holzmeister and opened with Gozzi's Turandot dramatized by Karl Vollmöller. At that time the festival had already developed a large-scale program including live broadcasts by the Austrian RAVAG radio network. In the following year the adjacent former episcopal Felsenreitschule riding academy, carved into the Mönchsberg rock face, was converted into a theatre, inaugurated with the performance of Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni.

The years from 1934 to 1937 were a golden period when the famed conductors Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter conducted many performances. In 1936, the festival featured a performance by the Trapp Family Singers, whose story was later dramatized as the musical and film The Sound of Music (featuring a shot of the Trapps singing at the Felsenreitschule theatre). In 1937, Boyd Neel and his orchestra premiered Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge at the Festival.^[2]

The Festival's popularity suffered a major blow upon the Anschluss annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938. Toscanini resigned in protest, artists of Jewish descent like Reinhardt and Georg Solti had to emigrate, and the Jedermann, last performed by Attila Hörbiger, had to be dropped. Nevertheless the festival remained in operation until in 1944 it was cancelled by the order of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels in reaction to the 20 July plot. At the end of World War II, the Salzburg Festival re-opened in summer 1945 immediately after the Allied victory in Europe.

Felsenreitschule theatre

Post World War II Festivals[link]

The post-war festival slowly regained its prominence as the premier summer opera festival, especially in works by Mozart, with conductor Herbert von Karajan becoming artistic director in 1956. In 1960 the Great Festival Hall (Großes Festspielhaus) opera house opened its doors. As this summer festival gained fame and stature as the premier venue for opera, drama, and classical concert presentation, its musical repertoire concentrated on Mozart and Strauss, but other works, such as Verdi's Falstaff and Beethoven's Fidelio, were also performed.

Upon Karajan's death in 1989, the festival was modernized by director Gerard Mortier, succeeded by Peter Ruzicka in 2001. In 2006, Salzburg celebrated the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth by staging all 22 of his operatic works (including two unfinished operas), to great acclaim. All 22 were filmed and were released to the general public in November 2006. Since 2006 the festival is led by intendant Jürgen Flimm and concert director Markus Hinterhäuser. Alexander Pereira is scheduled to succeed Flimm, future director of the Berlin State Opera, after the 2011 summer festival.

Salzburg Whitsun Festival[link]

The Salzburg Whitsun Festival (Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele) is an extension of the traditional Salzburg Summer Festival established in 1973, performing operas along with works from the great Baroque orchestral repertoire at the Grosses Festspielhaus during Whitsun (or Pentecost) weekend. In 2005, it presented Handel's Acis and Galatea and his oratorio Solomon. Since 2007 the Whitsun Festival is led by artistic director Riccardo Muti.

See also[link]

• List of opera festivals

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official web site
• Salzburg Festival 2010
• aeiou encyclopaedia article

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