On November 11, a new music festival, the “West-Eastern Divan Festival,” will launch in Berlin. It is organized by the foundation of Daniel Barenboim—the legendary conductor and pianist who, for over thirty years, served as the artistic and musical director of the Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden. Although he held this position for life, Barenboim stepped down voluntarily in 2023, citing health issues and an inability to fulfill his duties to the best of his ability.
The Maestro’s Return
The festival, which runs from November 11 to 18, will open with Daniel Barenboim himself. The 83-year-old conductor will take the stage at the Berlin Philharmonie alongside the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra—a youth ensemble he founded, bringing together Israeli and Arab musicians. The orchestra will perform three iconic works from the classical and romantic repertoire: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leonore Overture, the “Liebestod” (Love-Death) from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, and Franz Schubert’s “Great” Symphony. On November 17, Barenboim, the orchestra, and the virtuoso Chinese pianist Lang Lang will perform works by Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Wagner.
It is worth noting that in 2001, Daniel Barenboim faced sharp criticism in Israel for performing the music of Richard Wagner. The Berlin State Orchestra, which the renowned conductor was leading on tour at the time, played an excerpt from Tristan und Isolde as an encore—a gesture that sparked a storm of indignation. This performance effectively breached the boycott, observed in Israel, against the public presentation of works by the German composer—a stance rooted in his antisemitic views and the subsequent exploitation of his name by Nazi propaganda.
Music Instead of Weapons
Daniel Barenboim was born in Argentina into a Jewish family with roots in Russia. As a child, he moved with his parents to Israel, but from his teenage years onward, his artistic career has been primarily centered in Europe and the United States. A central theme for the musician and conductor has been the pursuit of a resolution to the Middle East conflict; for many years, he has sought to pave a path toward peace through the medium of art.
One such initiative was the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Daniel Barenboim established the ensemble in 1999 in Weimar, in collaboration with the Palestinian-American literary scholar Edward Said. The orchestra provides young people from the Middle East with the opportunity to see the world and to find common ground—at least within the realm of music. They took the name from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wrote a poetry collection of the same title, inspired by the literature of the East.
Barenboim and Said sought to contribute to the resolution of the Middle East conflict by embarking on a bold experiment: bringing together young musicians from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and various other nations across the region and North Africa. “The fact that musicians, despite all their differences, perform together on stage and create artistic value is by no means a given,” the Barenboim Foundation’s press office commented to DW. According to its founders, this experience of collaborative creation is intended to foster dialogue between people from different cultures. The conductor frequently emphasizes that making music together cultivates mutual understanding.
Projects of the Daniel Barenboim Foundation
Over time, the ensemble has become an important fixture on the international music scene. The new festival pursues these same goals. “It is a humanistic project rooted in musical dialogue and mutual understanding. We know that all the invited performers share these values,” the foundation’s representatives stress.
The maestro, who holds both Israeli and Palestinian citizenship, has long campaigned for peace in the region. “The idea at the heart of all these concerts and projects is that the war in the Middle East has no military solution,” the foundation notes.
Established in 2008, the Daniel Barenboim Foundation serves as an umbrella organization for the orchestra itself, the Barenboim-Said Akademie (which hosts 90 students, primarily from the Middle East and North Africa), and the Pierre Boulez Saal in the center of Berlin. Now, the international West-Eastern Divan Festival has been added to this list. “It was Daniel Barenboim’s personal wish to create a significant, independent artistic statement while simultaneously illustrating the connections between various projects developed in the spirit of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra,” the foundation explained.
Musicians from Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world—sharing the same stage
The Berlin concerts will also feature Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud, performing alongside students from the Barenboim-Said Music Centre in Ramallah (West Bank), as well as the renowned Iraqi oud virtuoso Naseer Shamma, accompanied by an ensemble of traditional music.
In addition, the West-Eastern Divan Chamber Ensemble—founded by the conductor’s son, Michael Barenboim—will take the stage. The musicians will perform works by Prokofiev…
