Biography (read more)
Daniel Barenboim (born November 15, 1942, in Buenos Aires) is a pianist and conductor holding citizenship in Argentina, Israel, Palestine, and Spain. A child prodigy, he made his international debut at age 10 and later studied conducting with Igor Markevitch and composition with Nadia Boulanger. He served as music director of the Berlin State Opera and Staatskapelle Berlin from 1992 to 2023, led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 2006, and headed La Scala from 2006 to 2011. In 1999 he co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Edward Said to bring together young Israeli, Palestinian, and other Arab musicians.
Barenboim is celebrated both as a formidable pianist-conductor with an enormous Austro-German repertoire and as a cultural figure who used the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the Barenboim-Said Academy to promote Israeli-Palestinian musical dialogue.
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