Daniel Barenboim

The conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942. His parents, both of whom taught piano, trained him on the keyboard at an early age. He gave his first public performance at the age of seven. In 1952, the family moved from Argentina to Israel, where Barenboim won a scholarship to study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1953 through the American-Israel Cultural Foundation competition. He additionally took conducting courses with Igor Markevitch and in 1954 was introduced to Wilhelm Furtwängler, who described him as a “phenomenon.” Barenboim began his career as an internationally successful concert pianist. Since his conducting debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1967, he has been in demand with the world’s leading orchestras. His first permanent post was as Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris, from 1975 to 1989; from 1991 to 2006, he helmed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He made his operatic debut in 1973 with Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh Festival and in 1981 conducted for the first time in Bayreuth, where he returned every summer until 1999. From 1992 until January 2023, Barenboim was General Music Director of the Berlin Staatsoper, which named him an Honorary Member in 2024; he remains affiliated with the Staatskapelle Berlin as its Honorary Principal Conductor. From 2007 to 2014, he made a significant impact at La Scala in Milan, most recently as Music Director. In 1999, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together young musicians who are primarily from Israel and Arab countries. In 2017, he opened the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, where he performs works from the classical repertoire to the present with his newly founded Boulez Ensemble. Barenboim has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize, the Buber-Rosenzweig Medal, the Siemens Music Prize, the Goethe Medal, and the Praemium Imperiale for his artistic and cultural-political contributions. The City of Berlin made him an honorary citizen in 2023.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 25 August 1966 with the English Chamber Orches­tra in piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven.

Further Information: www.danielbarenboim.com

June 2025