Since
making his conducting debut in 1967 with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra,
Maestro Barenboim has appeared with all major orchestras around the world. From
1975 to 1989 he was chief conductor of the Orchestre de Paris; from 1991 to
2006 he served as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which at
the end of his tenure named him honorary conductor. Between 2007 and 2014 he
held leading positions at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, including that of music
director beginning in 2011. He conducted his first operatic performance in 1973
at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1981, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival,
where he went on to appear every summer for almost two decades. In 1992 he was
named general music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden; eight years
later the Staatskapelle Berlin appointed him chief conductor for life. In opera
and concert, Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle have performed the great
works and work cycles of the Classical, Romantic, and classic 20th-century
repertoire in Berlin and on tour around the world. Most recently in 2018, they
presented the complete symphonies of Brahms in Buenos Aires, Beijing, and
Sydney. They also regularly perform the music of contemporary composers such as
Elliott Carter, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, and Pierre Boulez. Their extraordinary
artistic partnership is reflected in a number of acclaimed CD and DVD
recordings. In 2016, Daniel Barenboim founded a trio with violinist Michael
Barenboim and cellist Kian Soltani. The ensemble first appeared that same year
at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and in the 2017–18 season performed the
complete piano trios of Beethoven, combined with contemporary works, at the
Pierre Boulez Saal.
In
1999, Daniel Barenboim and Palestinian literary scholar Edward W. Said
established the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together young
musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other countries of the Middle East and
Northern Africa. The goal of the orchestra, which tours internationally every
summer, is to open up a dialogue between the different cultures of the Middle
East through the experience of playing music together. The project led to the
founding of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin, which began operations in
2015 and since fall 2016 has been offering a four-year bachelor program in
music and the humanities for students primarily from the Middle East. The
academy is located in the former storage building of the Staatsoper and also
houses the Pierre Boulez Saal. The Boulez Ensemble, which was founded by Daniel
Barenboim, has its artistic home there.
Daniel
Barenboim was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of
Germany; he is also a Knight Commander of the British Empire, a Commandeur de
la Légion d’Honneur, and a UN Messenger of Peace, and holds an honorary
doctorate from the University of Oxford. His books include his autobiography, A
Life in Music (1991, second edition 2002), Parallels and Paradoxes
(with Edward W. Said, 2002), Everything Is Connected: The Power of Music
(2008), Dialoghi su musica e teatro: Tristano e Isotta (with Patrice
Chéreau, 2008), and La musica è un tutto: Etica ed estetica (2012).