Daniel Barenboim
conductor
Vita
The conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942. His parents, both of whom taught piano, trained him on the keyboard at an early age. He gave his first public performance at the age of seven. In 1952, the family moved from Argentina to Israel, where Barenboim won a scholarship to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1953 through the American-Israel Cultural Foundation Competition. He also took conducting courses with Igor Markevitch and was introduced to Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1954, who described him as a “phenomenon.” Barenboim spent the first phase of his career as an internationally successful concert pianist. Since his debut as a conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra (1967), he has also been in demand in this capacity with the world’s finest orchestras. Barenboim’s first permanent position was as Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris from 1975 to 1989; from 1991 to 2006, he helmed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He made his operatic debut in 1973 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh Festival; in 1981, he conducted in Bayreuth for the first time, where he worked every summer until 1999. From 1992 to January 2023, Barenboim was General Music Director of the Staatsoper Berlin; he remains associated with the Staatskapelle Berlin as Honorary Principal Conductor and will conduct the ensemble in two concerts in the fall of 2024. From 2007 to 2014, he made a lasting impact at La Scala in Milan, eventually serving as Music Director. In 1999, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together young musicians who are primarily from Israel and Arab countries. In 2017, he opened the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, where he performs works from the classical period to the present day with his Boulez Ensemble. Barenboim has received the Prince of Asturias Award, the Buber-Rosenzweig Medal, the Siemens Music Prize, the Goethe Medal, and the Praemium Imperiale for his artistic and cultural-political work. The City of Berlin made him an honorary citizen in 2023.
Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 25 August 1966 with the English Chamber Orchestra in piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven.
Further Information: www.danielbarenboim.com
July 2024
Magazine
