Back in Berlin, Daniel Barenboim conducted the Staatskapelle in two concerts, on December 22 and 23, consisting of Schumann's Symphonies 1 and 3, after which he moved to the piano to accompany Roman Trekel in the Liederkreis nach Eichendorff, Op. 39. Mr. Trekel replaced Dorothea Röschman, who was taken ill. As is the tradition, the first concert took place at the Konzerthaus and the second at the Philharmonie.

The program for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Staatskapelle Berlin. With all the uncertainties of the future, in various "hot spots" in the world and also regarding the Staatsoper itself, these concerts brought the audiences and musicians close together.

With Pierre Boulez on the podium, Daniel Barenboim was the soloist in Schönberg's Piano Concerto and the Strauss Burleske in three performances with the Chicago Symphony during the first week of December. The Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein wrote, "You could have illuminated the auditorium on the energy generated by the Barenboim-Boulez duo. The various piano-orchestra dialogues moved with a musical logic worthy of Brahms, whose bravura gestures the music constantly echoes. Barenboim placed the music squarely in the Lisztian tradition — its splashy, sometimes ungainly solo writing held no terrors for him. A master of the score's intricacies, Boulez made the portentous pages sound inevitable, the craggy ones sound lyrical. Practically any other pianist would have quit after the Schoenberg concerto. Not Barenboim; we all know he commands vaster reserves of musical energy than most mortals. He returned at the end of the program as soloist in another knuckle-busting concertante work, Richard Strauss' "Burleske." The rendition boasted tremendous verve, brilliance and wit.."

Daniel Barenboim conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in November at the Konzerthaus and in December in the Musikverein. The concerts on 9 and 10 November featured Mozart's Piano Concerto K 488 and Bruckner's Symphony No. 4. The program on December 15 and 17 featured Schönberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Overture and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Mr. Barenboim was also the soloist in the Mozart and Beethoven concertos.

Daniel Barenboim gave recitals in Munich (Am Gasteig), Vienna (Konzerthaus), Amsterdam (Het Concertgebouw), London (Royal Festival Hall), Paris (Châtelet), Toronto (Roy Jenkins Hall) and Boston (Symphony Hall) in November and early December. The repertoire was Beethoven sonatas. The Boston Herald wrote, "It was hard to recall a more thought-provoking, stimulating and flat-out brilliant piano recital ever." The (London) Times wrote, "he touches the keys and the ordinary becomes extraordinary."

Daniel Barenboim was the soloist with the Münchner Philharmoniker under its Chief Conductor James Levine on November 3rd and 4th in Schönberg's Piano Concerto and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. After both concerts, the conductor joined the soloist at the piano for an encore, performing Schubert's Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands.

Daniel Barenboim performed Brahms's First Piano Concerto in Munich's Staatsoper on November 11th and 12th with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester's Music Director, Zubin Mehta, on the podium.

Not for Daniel Barenboim to celebrate his 60th birthday at home or at a restaurant. Instead, he gave his services, as did the conductor, Zubin Mehta, to a benefit concert for the Staatskapelle Berlin in which Barenboim performed both Brahms Piano Concertos.

Daniel Barenboim was awarded the Tolerance Prize by the Protestant Academy of Tutzing, Germany for his efforts in fostering peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. He donated the monetary prize, which was 10,000 Euros, toward scholarships for students of the West-Eastern Divan Workshops.

Daniel Barenboim was awarded Germany's Federal Cross of Merit for his contribution to cultural life in the country's capital. Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit presented the prize to Mr. Barenboim during a brief ceremony in the Apollo Hall of the Staatsoper.

Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said were jointly presented with the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord 2002 at a ceremony in Oviedo, Spain (the capital of the Principality of Asturias). Previous recipients of the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord include Stephen Hawking, the American Foundation of AIDS Research, H.M. Hussein, King of Jordan, Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich.

The Prince of Asturias Foundation was established in 1980 by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain and by H.R.H Don Felipe, the Price of Asturias, who is heir to the Spanish Crown. The first Prince of Asturias awards were granted by the Foundation in 1981, hence this year marked their 22nd edition: The awards aim to recognise and reward work performed by individuals, groups and institutions worldwide in a variety of fields. The annual awards are granted in each of eight categories: Arts, Letters, Social Sciences, Communications & Humanities, Technical and Scientific Research, Sports, International Cooperation and Concord.

The Award for Concord is "bestowed upon an individual, group or institution whose work has contributed in an exemplary and significant way to the brotherhood of mankind, to the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, to the defence of freedom, to opening new horizons of knowledge" and to "protecting and preserving mankind's heritage."

Mr. Barenboim and Mr. Said were cited for their "close working relationship that has inspired them to seek alternative paths towards peace, coexistence and mutual understanding through the medium of culture." Their award singles out their creation of the West Eastern Divan workshop which brings together budding musicians from the Middle East.

Read the dialogue of Mr. Barenboim's speech: English Spanish

To learn more, please visit www.fpa.es

Daniel Barenboim's autobiography, DANIEL BARENBOIM: A LIFE IN MUSIC, has been re-printed in Great Britain by Orion Books, a division of Weidenfeld & Nicolson with six new chapters and a selection of new photographs.

Daniel Barenboim: A Life in Music can be ordered through www.amazon.co.uk.

PARALLELS AND PARADOXES: Explorations In Music And Society, a series of discussions on many subjects, personal, musical and political, between Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said was published in the US in mid-October 2002 by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House (ISBN 0375421068).

Parallels and Paradoxes will be published in the UK by Bloomsbury in March 2003 and at a later date in Japan by Misuzu Shobo, in Taiwan by iFront, in France by Le Serpent à Plumes and in Korea by Thinking Tree Publishers. Parallels and Paradoxes was released in October 2002 in Spain by Grijalbo (an imprint of Random House Mondadori).

Pantheon's fall catalogue describes the new book as "a fascinating, intimate conversation about music and politics between two of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture."

Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society can be ordered through www.amazon.com

Daniel Barenboim, at the piano, joined soprano Angela Denoke and baritone Thomas Quasthoff in performances of Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch at Symphony Hall, Chicago on October 13th and at Carnegie Hall in New York the following day. The New York Times reviewer, while ruing the fact that Carnegie Hall is too large for a song recital, wrote that "it was a testimony to these two German vocalists that instead of resorting to oversize singing, they drew you into their subtle artistry and, with Mr. Barenboim's support, gave the illusion of intimacy." Describing the wide-ranging piano parts, he said, "Mr. Barenboim brought delicacy and nuance to the accompaniments in the subdued, lyrical songs, like the soprano's wistful, waltzing 'My Beloved Sings by the House'. . in the baritone's exasperated outburst, 'How Shall I Be Happy,' through cascading runs, choral flourishes and tremolos, he evoked the blaring brass and kettle drum rolls of an opera orchestra."

The Chicago Sun-Times wrote that, "Denoke, Quasthoff and Barenboim made the most of the musical drama. . As usual, Barenboim was a sensitive accompanist, occasionally pushing forward to put the final touches on a turbulent scene, but more often creating a more unobtrusive atmosphere."

The final three subscription programs of Daniel Barenboim's autumn residency with the CSO were concert performances of excerpts from Wagner's Tannhäuser. John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune cited the "superbly gifted trio of vocalists [soprano Angela Denoke, tenor Peter Sieffert and baritone Roman Trekel] all native German speakers, and an orchestra and chorus as magnificent as any such aggregation this side of Bayreuth. Barenboim, who is rarely more inspired than when he is immersing himself in his core repertory - Wagner - combined all these elements into a totality that didn't require a theatre around it to make for brilliantly effective music drama." "Barenboim conducts Wagner with complete trust" wrote Wynne Delacoma of the Chicago Sun-Times, "convinced beyond question that the music itself will speak directly to listeners without any fussy intervention from himself."

Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra opened the 2002/2003 Carnegie Hall season with three programs on three successive nights.

The first Carnegie Hall program on October 2 consisted of works by Manuel de Falla (the Miller's Dance from The Three-Cornered Hat and Nights in the Gardens of Spain) and Maurice Ravel (Rapsodie espagnole, Pavane pour une Infante défunte, Alborada del gracioso and Boléro) followed by encores from Bizet (two entr'actes from Carmen) and the popular samba Tico-Tico.

In the second program, Radu Lupu was the soloist for Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, op. 16 and Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture. The final program featured Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Boulez's Originel and Bruckner's 9th Symphony.

Paul Griffiths in his New York Times review of October 8 wrote, "The experience throughout was at once comfortable and electrifying - comfortable because you knew you were in good hands, being addressed by musicians who had nothing to prove and everything to deliver, and electrifying because so much was going on. There were points, especially in the Bruckner, of tremendous charge, as when the full brass ensemble came swinging in for the first time in the opening movement, magnificent, loud, beautifully in tune and resplendently, emphatically present. [In the Brahms concerto, if Mr. Lupu] was, most certainly, thoroughly in command, he was also on fire. . So often the music appeared to be happening of its own accord, with little evident prompting [by Mr. Barenboim] or encouragement. It was hard in the slow movement to understand how so many fine gradations of sound were being achieved, down to extraordinary pianissimos, or how Mr. Barenboim was controlling the subtly staggered entries that made the orchestra sound like another piano. The Schoenberg was alive, all movement and expression. The Boulez had its solo flute part . set in a resonant chamber of harmony coming from the ensemble widely spaced on the platform. In the Bach finale, Mr. Barenboim (at the harpsichord) and his colleagues gave the music an affectionate prestissimo. In the Wagner excerpts - the Tannhäuser Overture and the prelude to the last act of Die Meistersinger - there was magnificence and authority, the secure glow of something that has been done right."

By Ha'aretz Service

Pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim performed in a special concert Tuesday in Ramallah. This was the second time that the well-known Jewish dove has announced plans to visit Ramallah, but the first visit, planned for March, was cancelled on the advice of Israeli security forces, who said they could not guarantee Barenboim's safety. At the time, Barenboim said that although he trusted his Palestinian escorts, he would not set out for Ramallah because he knew he would be turned back at the checkpoint.

Barenboim has made several statements condemning the Israel Defense Force's operations in the West Bank in recent weeks, and some three weeks ago held a concert at Beir Zeit University, where he has close friendships with several Palestinian musicians.

"It is important for Palestinians to have positive feelings about someone from the other side," said Barenboim, explaining his desire to visit the territories. "I told them that I am not a politician, that I have no solutions and that I have come solely to open hearts."

Barenboim arrived in Israel last week to participate in the Fifth International Chamber Music Festival in Jerusalem. On Sunday, Jerusalem police boosted its presence at the YMCA building in the city, after Barenboim received death threats. Sources close to the conductor reported the threats to the police, which they said came from ultra-Orthodox quarters.

Daniel Barenboim led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in works by Boulez, Bruckner and Mozart in three concerts at Lucerne's Kunst & Kongresshaus as part of the Orchestra's residency at the Lucerne Festival on September 13, 14 and 15.

"Barenboim and his Chicago Symphony Orchestra obviously get along with each other very well," wrote the Basler Zeitung. "After more than a decade together, the orchestra . is still at the top, able to produce energetic eruptions of an amazing power, but still willing to go back to a basic attitude with a bewitching sense for sound and noblesse." The works by Pierre Boulez were particularly singled out for praise. "Music that offers pure delight?" wrote the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, "Yes, it exists, and the visitors to the first concert of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra experienced it. . Those who weren't deterred from the name "Boulez" allowed themselves to be seduced, in the best meaning of the word, by the "Notations," and they applauded enthusiastically." The Tages-Anziger described Boulez's Originel as "a sound experience of immediate poetry."

Barenboim and the CSO then returned to Chicago for the Opening Night concert of the Orchestra's 2002/2003 season, which featured a collection of symphonic dances ranging from Bach gavottes to an Argentine tango. Two hundred fifty members of Chicago's Fire and Police Departments were specially invited guests and all proceeds for the evening's dinner and concert benefited the musicians' pension fund.

The season's first subscription concerts, which took place the following week, included works by Ravel and Manuel de Falla that were "saturated with the sounds of Spain." The Chicago Sun-Times wrote of the Ravel Rapsodie espagnole and Pavane pour une Infante défunte, "Mystery was there in the haunted, minor harmonies and sinuous, distinctively accented melodic shapes that have lingered in Spanish music after centuries of Middle Eastern influence. But there was a firmness to the playing, a glittering edge to the CSO's performance that promised something surprisingly incendiary behind the darkly simmering veil." Of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain the same journalist said, "the interplay between darkness and light was particularly intriguing. With Barenboim as pianist and conductor, Falla's midnight gardens gleamed with flashes of exotic color."

Daniel Barenboim participated in the Fifth Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival on September 8, 9 and 10, performing works by Mozart (Piano Quartet K493, Clarinet Trio K498), Schubert (Fantasia for piano 4 hands in f minor D940, Violin Sonata D385), Berg (Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano Op. 5, Kammerkonzert), Schoenberg (Three Pieces Op. 11), Dvořák (Piano Quintet) and Beethoven (Piano Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 'Tempest') alongside artists including the Jerusalem Quartet, clarinettist Matthias Glander, violinists Renaud Capuçon and Nikolaj Znaider, violists Felix Schwarz and Amichai Gross, cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Yefim Bronfman.

The fourth season of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Workshop took place this August at a former Catholic seminary outside Seville. (see earlier NEWS item) Eighty young musicians from the Middle East between the ages of 11 and 30 took part, living together during the three week program and proving, in the words of one Spanish newspaper, that "music is one of the best instruments of communication." Many who attended the workshop knew that they would be in danger when they returned to their home countries and precautions were taken regarding the presence of reporters.

The teachers included Mr. Barenboim and members of the two orchestras of which he is Music Director, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Chicago Symphony. Edward Said, the US-based Palestinian writer and critic who is the co-founder, with Barenboim, of the West-Eastern Divan Workshop, was unable to attend this year's sessions because he is ill with leukaemia. But in a statement he said that the West-Eastern Divan project is "one of the most important things I have done in my life. The orchestra is non-political and has no ulterior motive. It doesn't pretend to be building bridges and all that hokey stuff. But there it is, a paradigm of coherent and intelligent living together."

The four orchestral concerts and single chamber music program given in Spain and Germany at the conclusion of the 2002 West-Eastern Divan Workshop were rapturously received with standing ovations that, in one case, lasted fifteen minutes.

The Three Mediterranean Cultures Foundation, which sponsored the 2002 W-E D season, has offered the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Workshop a permanent home in Seville.

The fourth season of the West-Eastern-Divan will take place in Seville, Spain between August 8th and September 1st under the guidance of its godfathers, Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said.

Approximately 100 young people from different countries in the Middle East, as well as from Spain and Morocco, will live in the old seminary Residencia Lantana while taking part in an intensive workshop to develop their musical skills and provide a forum for cross-cultural discussion.

The idea for the West Eastern Divan was born four years ago in discussions between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. Their goal was to create a setting in which young musicians from Israel and various countries of the Middle East could combine musical study with an opportunity for dialogue and reflection on the critical Israeli-Palestinian situation. Their hope was that through cross-cultural contact between young artists, the West Eastern Divan workshop could play an important role in overcoming political and cultural differences between countries in the Middle East.

The first two seasons of the West-Eastern-Divan took place in Weimar, Germany, while the third season took place in Chicago. In addition to the musical and extra-musical participation of Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, the students were coached by artists including Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Friendships were forged and sustained between Israeli and Arab participants as well as musical partnerships that have resulted in performances beyond the aegis of the Workshop. Many of the participants have returned for subsequent seasons and there has been strong interest on the part of new applicants as well.

Daniel Barenboim is particularly keen to celebrate the West Eastern Divan in Andalucia, Spain since, in his own words, "It is the only place in the world where Jewish and Arab people have lived together in peace for seven centuries."

The 2002 West Eastern Divan season has been organised by la Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo (The Three Mediterranean Cultures Foundation), founded in 1999 by the Moroccan and Andalusian Governments to promote peace, dialogue and tolerance between Mediterranean cultures. A number of Israeli and Palestinian organisations have taken an interest in the foundation, which has the support of individuals including Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, Mohamed VI, King of Morocco, Shimon Peres, the former First Minister of Israel and o Yacer Abed-Rabbo, Culture Minister of the National Authority in Palestine. Through the West Eastern Divan, la Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo will substantiate its objective of acting as a bridge between Europe and the Eastern countries, and a promoter of harmony amongst the Mediterranean cultures. It is hoped that the West Eastern Divan will continue to be based in Seville for the next four years.

In addition to Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, several prominent musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin will teach and conduct the young participants of the 2002 West Eastern Divan and will live with them for three weeks.

The final week of this year's West Eastern Divan workshop will feature a chamber music concert at the Reales Alcázares de Sevilla (26 August) and orchestral concerts at the Plaza de Toros de Ronda (23 August), at the Teatro de la Real Maestranza de Sevilla (24 August), at the Musik-und Kongresshalle in Lübeck, Germany (30 August) and at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin on September 1st.

Daniel Barenboim performed all 32 of Beethoven's sonatas in eight recitals at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires in late July and the first half of August 2002. The famous hall was filled to the rafters night after night for what was described in the national newspapers as "the cultural event of the season".

"Barenboim approaches the Beethoven sonatas without reverential fear because one should not fear beauty or respect it mindlessly. It should only be loved and that is what Barenboim does," wrote La Nación. Another review describes the enthusiasm of the audience attending the final recital: "With the last sound of Beethoven's Sonata No. 32 [...] there came to an end an unforgettable experience. Fifteen minutes later, the spontaneous cheers and applause of the public's standing ovation, also died down. Even so, this effusive display wasn't enough. There can't be an ovation sufficient to express thanks for so much music, performed with such commitment."

Barenboim returned to Argentina as the country suffers through its biggest financial crisis in recent history. In remarks to the Argentine press Barenboim recalled that Argentina "was once one of the most highly cultured countries in Latin America. There was creativity in many [other] countries, but I am referring to a culture lived by the people. I grew up in the middle of that - that's what my parents conveyed to me. . I don't mean to say that my going to Buenos Aires to play Beethoven's sonatas will resolve Argentina's problems or that people will feel better because they'll come to hear me at the Teatro Colón. But I strongly believe in the Argentines' cultural values and I have a firm desire to be there at this time."

Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven Sonatas cycle formed part of the 50th anniversary season of the Mozarteum concert series.

Daniel Barenboim led the Staatskapelle Berlin in its third annual residency at Madrid's Teatro Real in late June and early July. Together with a roster of renowned soloists, they gave four performances each of Wagner's Tannhäuser and Richard Strauss's Elektra and concerts of the Brahms Requiem and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the last of which was transmitted live to a big screen in the Puerto del Sol.

The cost of the residency was underwritten by the local government in Madrid and the performances took place in the city's 18th century Teatro Real, which re-opened five years ago after extensive renovation.

According to the London Times, "It is plain that [Barenboim] and the Staatsoper are very popular in the Spanish capital. Local audiences follow the company's fortunes and the development of the singers as if they were their own."

Barenboim said of the Staatskapelle residency and its relationship to the local opera company, [which started up again, as though from scratch, when the Teatro Real was re-opened five years ago] "We're not just giving a few performances as best we can; we're trying to provide an example of what they can aspire to in terms of an ensemble at work." Next year, Barenboim, members of the Staatskapelle and some of the singers will offer master classes as well.

The [London] Times's Rodney Milnes wrote about the Staatskapelle's 2002 Madrid residency: "The Staatsoper chorus and Staatskapelle orchestra are quite magnificent. . [Elektra] was sung by Elizabeth Connell, who has the power for the role - top Cs to pin you to your seat - and more, subtlety of declamation, perfectly poised soft high notes. The Clytemnestra was the immortal Anja Silja, portraying her not as a grotesque caricature but as a potentially tragic figure - stunning. Hanno Müller'U'-Brachmann, a hugely talented young bass-baritone, was the best Orestes I have seen or heard. . [in Tannhäuser] Angela Denoke was a spirited Elisabeth - doubling Venus. Andreas Schmidt a supremely musical Wolfram, but the star was Robert Gambill, the ex-Rossini tenor, now a Heldentenor in a thousand, making amazingly light of the challenges of the title role. And he's a wonderful actor."

Daniel Barenboim's only concession to the torn tendon in his left ankle (from an accident in Berlin prior to his return to Chicago in mid-May) was to conduct his first symphonic program with the CSO sitting down. The resulting performances showed no evidence of diminished energy. Quite to the contrary.

Program One opened with Debussy's Iberia followed by the CSO debut of the guitar virtuoso John Williams in two concertos: Toru Takemitsu's To the Edge and Joaquin Rodrigo's perennial favourite, Concierto de Aranjuez. After the intermission, a work by the contemporary Spanish composer Cristobal Halffter, Tiento del prier tono y batalla imperial, was an orchestral treatment of early Spanish keyboard works by Cabezon and Cabanilles.

Program Two featured Elgar's large-scale masterwork, The Dream of Gerontius, which received its American premiere by the CSO in 1911 but had not been performed in Chicago since then. The soloists were tenor Robert Gambill, alto Anna Larsson and bass Kevin Deas (replacing Robert Holl, who was ill). In the words of the Chicago Sun-Times, "Barenboim has great respect for this work, and it showed in [his] restrained, elegantly shaped performance. Bombast was nowhere to be heard and a restless energy simmered just below the smoothly flowing surface of Elgar's elongated melody lines."

Program Three interpreted the music of Bach, Bruckner and Boulez, specifically Bach's 'Brandenburg' Concerto No 4 in G Major, Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 and Boulez's Notations Nos I-IV and VII. In the 'Brandenburg' Concerto, Barenboim led an ensemble of 12 principal and assistant players with concertmaster Robert Chen and principal flutist Mathieu Dufour as the soloists. The Boulez performance was in place of the second set of orchestral 'Notations', commissioned by the CSO which are as-yet undelivered by the composer. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Boulez's dense but lucid language holds no terrors for the CSO. The huge orchestra gave all five pieces powerful, persuasive, crystalline attention." As for the Bruckner, the reviewer wrote, "the music director knew just when to push forward, when to hold back and by exactly how much. The craggy climaxes of the outer movements were finely graded, resting on well-balanced sonorities supported by one of the world's great Bruckner brass choirs. Long lines flowed purposefully."

When Maxim Vengerov was forced to cancel his recital with Daniel Barenboim due to illness, Barenboim regaled the Chicago audience with the last three piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. The Chicago Tribune wrote that [Barenboim's] "playing of the Opus 109, 110 and 111 sonatas fused intellectual poise and physical power, leanness of muscle and singing beauty of line.The scale of his playing always felt right as did the ravishing detail he brought to the slow movements."

Daniel Barenboim led the Staatsoper Berlin in a Wagner Festival featuring two complete cycles of the composer's ten major operas. The first 'cycle' took place between March 24 and April 6th, the second between April 13 and April 28th. On the final three days of the second cycle, the Staatsoper in conjunction with Humboldt University offered a scholarly symposium on the Festival concept, Festival ideas and the Politics of Festival culture.

The Festival (Festtage 2002) also celebrated a decade of cooperation at the Staatsoper between Barenboim and director Harry Kupfer, whose first joint production at the house was Parsifal in 1992, the year Barenboim was named General Music Director. Each subsequent year there was another Wagner premiere culminating with Die fliegende Holländer in 2001. Hans Schavernoch, who has worked extensively with Kupfer, was the set designer for all ten operas.

Each 'cycle' of ten operas yielded more than 40 hours of Wagner's music, performed by some of the world's most admired Wagner singers, including Waltraud Meier, Deborah Polaski, Emily Magee, Angela Denoke, John Tomlinson, Graham Clark, Falk Struckmann, Günter von Kannen, René Pape, Peter Seiffert, Robert Gambill, Robert Holl, Andreas Schmidt, and Christian Franz.

Over half of the audiences hailed from outside Germany, with groups from Japan, Venezuela, Australia, the U.S. and many of the European countries. After the final performance, the audience gave the musicians a half-hour standing ovation.

The German newspaper Der Taggespiegel wrote, "One should record every Barenboim evening because it could be an unforgettable one.like the one on the 8th day of the cycle (Tristan und Isolde) . because this is his piece and he conducts it with the verve of a 23 year old — passionately, full of fire, enchanting and still he has everything under control. The musicians were glued to his every gesture and they transform it into a sound of intoxicating beauty."

Barenboim has long been a proponent of Wagner's music and he is considered one of — if not the — finest Wagner conductor alive today. The Independent, a British paper, commented on the scope of the Festtage 2002 undertaking, "So intense is the challenge set by Wagner's operas that many conductors go through their career without performing one. No one has ever before attempted Barenboim's task of conducting all of them in immediate succession. In most conductors' hands, the idea would be dismissed as a gimmick.But such is Barenboim's stature, and his personal integrity, that one knows that the only purpose to his venture is musical."

May 18-26 marked the culmination of a three-year Mozart project that was a cooperative effort between the Staatsoper Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic. From 1999, at Whitsun, the Mozart Festival saw the presentation of three Mozart/Da Ponte operas at the Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim alongside a concert at the Philharmonie with the Berlin Philharmonic at which Mr. Barenboim performed a Mozart piano concerto and another large work.

In 2002 the three operas, revived from previous seasons, were Thomas Langhoff's productions of Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni (with a completely new cast that included René Pape in his debut as Don Giovanni) and Doris Dörrie's production of Così fan tutte.

At the Philharmonie Daniel Barenboim played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat, KV 595 and led the orchestra in Mozart's Requiem with soloists Soile Isokoski, Malena Ernmann, Ian Bostridge and Kwangchul Youn.

Daniel Barenboim has reluctantly postponed his planned March 6 visit to Ramallah, where he was to have led a masterclass for students at the National Conservatoire of Music. Mr. Barenboim's West Bank appearance was cancelled following communication from the Israeli government that they would not be able to insure his safety.

Mr. Barenboim performed the first of what was to have been two piano recitals for peace on Tuesday, March 5, presenting Beethoven's last three piano sonatas at Jerusalem's International Convention Center. In light of the political turmoil in this region of the world, his intention was that two performances -- one in Israel, the second in the Palestinian territories -- be offered in the spirit of peace. "I express myself by means of music and I find that until now no political solution has been found," he told reporters in a Jerusalem press conference on Monday, March 4. "For those of us who have the possibility of opening up dialogue, I think it's our duty," he said. This would have marked Mr. Barenboim's second visit to Ramallah. He first performed on the West Bank in January 1999, offering a recital at Bir Zeit University.

The Japanese public loves Wagner and from mid-January to mid-February 2002, Daniel Barenboim and the Staatsoper Berlin provided a lot of Wagner to enjoy, specifically two Ring cycles - one in Yokohama and one in Tokyo. The soloists included Deborah Polaski, Falk Struckmann, Graham Clark, Günter von Kannen and Waltraud Meier.

The performances were all sold out. The audiences totaled 37,200 people.

The music critic of the Mainichi newspaper wrote of the first Ring Cycle in Yokohama, "This week of performances without doubt deserves a unique place of honor in the performance history of our country with a gold medal. It will always remain a topic of conversation."

In addition to Wagner, the Staatskapelle Berlin performed concerts in Tokyo that included the Brahms and Beethoven Violin Concertos with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, as well as a Brahms Symphonies cycle, the Brahms Requiem and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.