East meets West in music
Argentine-born pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is to take his orchestra of Arab and Israeli musicians to Morocco for a concert … the ensemble’s first ever date in an Arab country.
Barenboim, born in Buenos Aires to parents of Jewish-Russian descent, will conduct the 80-strong group in the city’s Muhammad V theatre as they perform Beethoven’s Third Symphony and Mozart’s concerto for three pianos on Sunday.
Barenboim, a child pianist prodigy who gave his first concert at the age of seven, and Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, who jointly founded the orchestra project, said they hoped the concerts would help cement friendship, peace and security between Palestinians and Israelis.
Barenboim said a Moroccan venue was chosen because the country was “one of the most active Arab countries in the process of peace among Palestinians and Israelis”.
The West-Eastern-Divan project grew out of the three cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation, which includes the Kings of Morocco and Spain as its patrons.
In 1991 Barenboim took the position of director at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and served as director of the Israel Festival from 1971-1973.