I am deeply saddened by the sudden death of Franz Xaver Ohnesorg. We had known each other for more than 40 years. When I met him for the first time in Munich in 1982, I was immediately impressed by his enthusiasm and passion for music. Even then, as a relatively young man, he had an enormous amount of knowledge and you could tell that he was aiming high. He went on to do some marvellous, unique work in Cologne. Before he came there, there was no major concert hall in the city - he built up the Philharmonie from virtually nothing and really turned Cologne into a music metropolis. I was lucky enough to perform there almost every year and remember numerous concerts, both as a pianist and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, especially in the 1990s when the orchestra was in residence there. At his later positions at Carnegie Hall in New York, with the Berlin Philharmonic and above all at the Ruhr Piano Festival, where I have been a regular guest over the years, I have always greatly appreciated our trusting and inspiring collaboration. Many conversations with him have remained vivid in my memory to this day. Xaver always tried to make things as easy as possible for us artists. It was particularly touching to experience him together with Sergiu Celibidache: that was a special relationship in which he showed true human greatness. As a board member of the Daniel Barenboim Foundation from the very beginning, he was a far-sighted and selfless friend and advisor to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and in the establishment of the Barenboim-Said Akademie. His death is a great loss for the music world and for me personally.
Daniel Barenboim
15 November 2023