Profile

Born in Buenos Aires of Russian-Jewish émigré roots, Daniel Barenboim was a child prodigy and gave his debut piano concert at the age of seven. The family moved to Israel when he was 10. He studied conducting with Igor Markevich in Salzburg, and made his conducting debut in 1962. From the 1970s, he had positions as music director of Orchestre de Paris, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. With a wide repertoire reaching from Bach to Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler to contemporary composers, Barenboim is acclaimed for his precise musical expression that embodies both the instinct of the pianist and the skill of the conductor. Barenboim’s controversial performance in Israel in 2001 of a piece by Wagner, a composer widely condemned there as anti-Semitic, points to Barenboim’s involvement in activities as a political force. Through his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a youth orchestra that he founded in 1999 with late Palestinian-American scholar and friend Edward Said, he continues in his search for a path to peace in the Middle East.

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Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires of Russian-Jewish émigré parents. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, and gave his debut piano concert at the age of seven. Important influences in his development as a musician included Arthur Rubinstein and Adolf Busch, both of whom performed in Argentina. The Barenboim family moved to Israel in 1952. In the summer of 1954, Barenboim’s parents brought him to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevich's conducting classes.

Following his debut as a conductor with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in London in 1967, Barenboim was in demand with all the leading European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.

In 1991 Barenboim succeeded Sir Georg Solti as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 2006, when he was named honorary conductor for life. In 1992 he became General Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and in 2006 he was named Maestro Scaligero at La Scala, Milan, where he will perform, among other works, Verdi's Requiem in November 2007 and a Wagner Ring cycle in 2010/2011. He also appears regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras.

In February 2003, Mr. Barenboim won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and he and the Staatskapelle Berlin received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize. With a wide repertoire reaching from Bach to Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler to contemporary composers, Barenboim is acclaimed for his precise musical expression that embodies both the instinct of the pianist and the skill of the conductor.

Barenboim’s controversial performance in Israel in 2001 of a piece by Wagner, a composer widely viewed there as anti-Semitic, points to Barenboim’s involvement in activities as a political force. Through his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a youth orchestra that he founded with late Palestinian-American scholar and friend Edward Said in 1999, he continues in his search for a path to peace in the Middle East. He says, "This orchestra is not going to bring peace, but maybe in the best sense of the word it could become a model because our people are able and willing to hear what others have to say in music as well as outside of music."