Honored Persons

 

Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim, KBE (born November 15, 1942 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-Israeli pianist and conductor with Spanish, Argentine, Israeli and Palestinian nationality. Chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin for life. Barenboim uses his genius, his public appearances and his access to financial means for his socio-political engagement, for example: Together with the Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said and the German cultural manager Bernd Kauffmann, he founded the orchestra of the West-Eastern Divan in 1999. Half of the orchestra consists of young musicians from Israel as well as the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Spain. In 2012, Barenboim founded the Barenboim Said Academy for young musicians from the Middle East in Berlin, which began teaching in the winter semester 2016/2017. He received over 30 medals, awards and international accolades for his musical output and commitment to international understanding, human rights and peace in the Middle East. He returned the Echos Prize after being awarded to artists whose texts judged Barenboim misogynist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and inhuman. Barenboim donates a good part of the prize money for peace projects.