The Argentine-Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim turned 80 this Tuesday without being able to take the baton, for health reasons, but appreciated as a universal “teacher” and pianist, a passionate Wagnerian and a committed figure for peace in the Middle East.
Barenboim had planned to celebrate his birthday at what has been his home for thirty years, the Staatsoper Unter den Lindenthe Berlin National Orchestra, with a concert shared with his friend Zubin Mehta.
Last October, the musician had communicated, via Twitter, that he had been diagnosed with a serious neurological pathology, which would have forced him to cancel his commitments, especially with the baton; a few weeks later, the Staatsoper announced the cancellation of the concert with Mehta.
And the Staatskapelle Berlin has also decided to celebrate the master’s birthday. And wished him a happy birthday.
Barenboim “lives and embodies the power of music to unite peoples,” said the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a statement ahead of the birthday.
“The Divan East-West orchestra, founded between you, Edward Said and Bernd Kauffmann, is proof that art is a path that can lead to peace”, continues the president.
This orchestra, founded in 1999 to bring together young musicians from the Middle East, continued with the Barenboim-Said Academy, which opened in 2016 in a building next to the Staatsoper. In addition to high-ranking concerts in the Pierre Boulez Hall, designed by architect Frank Gehry, young Arabs and Israelis are trained there. Besides music, they learn philosophy, history and literature.
one of his wonders
Furnishing what used to be an old Staatsoper warehouse, classified as artistic heritage, into an academy is one of the marvels that Barenboim has achieved for Berlin, the adopted city of this world citizen of multiple nationalities (in addition to Argentine and Israeli, he has the Spanish and Palestinian).
Barenboim, born in 1942 in Buenos Aires, son of a Jewish couple of Russian origin, both pianists, gave his first piano concert at the age of seven in his hometown. A little later his family moved to Israel and a few years later he began to surprise the piano in Salzburg, Vienna or Rome.
At the age of 22 he made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic; From there begins the almost endless list of major orchestras before which he has led the baton, be it the London Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Paris or Chicago, where he was principal conductor for 15 years.
With the same passion he plays the cursed composer in Israel, Richard Wagner. It was one of the most acclaimed wands of the Wagnerian temple of Bayreuth, the party that the composer’s heirs placed at Adolf Hitler’s feet during the Third Reich. And in 2001 you broke a taboo playing Wagner in Jerusalem.
“Music is not a profession, but an attitude towards life,” wrote Barenboim in late October in a column for the German weekly “Die Zeit.”
“Five lives meet in Barenboim: the conductor, the pianist, the initiator of projects like the Divan orchestra, the family being and the universal figure of music,” said the director general of the Staatsoper unter den at the his 80th birthday Linden, Matthias Schulz.
As for the Staatsoper, Barenboim extended his contract two years ago until 2027. It was stated in the Berlin media that “soon” the director general of the institution will make a decision on a “possible” succession.
POS
Source: Clarin
