Daniel Barenboim

[Elissa]

Pianist Daniel Barenboim  was leader of a pack which included violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman and grew to embrace cellist Jacqueline du Pré when she and Barenboim fell in love. In order to marry him, du Pré converted to Judaism and the couple were wed in Jerusalem in June 1967 at the height of that particular Middle Eastern conflict. In the days before their marriage, Barenboim and du Pré were risking their lives playing concerts to Israeli troops on the front line "with the tanks thundering past", as du Pré later recalled.

...Over the past few years, Barenboim's critiques of the Israeli government have been coruscating: "Israel is in the grip of a ghetto mentality. We have a powerful army. We have the atomic bomb. But the psychology of what comes out of Israel has the tone of the Warsaw Ghetto."

To inevitable accusations that he has turned against his country, he retorts: "I don't think I'm anti-Israeli. I think Sharon is anti-Israeli because it's in the interest of Israel to understand the problems of the other side."

And that is exactly what Barenboim has been working so hard to do. In 1999 he formed, against all odds, an orchestra made up by an equal number of young Arab and Israeli musicians. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WED for short - and it's a fitting acronym for what Barenboim has achieved) was the brainchild of Barenboim and his friend, the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said. Their idea was to demonstrate that, through music, it is possible for people from warring factions to co-exist peacefully.

[Chuck Nessa]

Elis, do you have a point of view on this? What is the source of your quote?

Just wondering.

[Bright Moments]

this sould be moved to politics.

[Elissa]

There's a link to the Telegraph article in the quote.

But I agree: music far superior to war.

[Christiern]

Unless it sparks a political discussion, I don't see why it "should" be in the political forum. It's basically about bringing people together--politics, as we see, does the opposite.

Barenboim gives 'peace concert'

Daniel Barenboim was married to the late cellist Jacqueline Du Pre

Conductor Daniel Barenboim has given a "concert for peace" in the Spanish town of Oviedo in honour of late Palestinian author and friend Edward Said.
Barenboim and Said co-founded an orchestra of Arab and Israeli musicians to promote peace and friendship between Israel and Palestine. The pair were jointly awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in Oviedo in 2002. Said died in 2003.

The orchestra is due to play in Buenos Aires, London and Ramallah. Known as the West-Eastern Divan orchestra, it consists of approximately 100 musicians including 38 from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and 37 Israelis.

Said's widow, Mariam, was among those in the audience at Oviedo where the programme included works by Mozart, Mahler and Carl Maria von Weber's comic opera Abu Hassan.

Israeli pianist Barenboim, 62, was married to the renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pre.

He has announced that he will step down as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra next year. He remains general music director of the Berlin Opera.

[Dr. Rat]

Man, Said's name sure is a red flag!

--eric