December began with the premiere of a hugely successful new production of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades or Pique Dame, directed by Mariusz Trelinski and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Each of the performances was sold out. Plácido Domingo was in the role of Herman, Hanno Müller-Brachmann sang Count Tomski, Roman Trekel Prince Jeletzki, Martin Homrich Chekalinski, Martin Snell Sourin, Andreas Schmidt Tchaplitsky, Ute-Trekel-Burckhardt the Countess and Angela Denoke Lisa. The opera was performed in Russian with German surtitles and was a co-production with Polish National Opera in Warsaw. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote, "Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle, which responded excellently, hit the right tone immediately [.] He is completely in command of the performance in a very lively way"

Meanwhile, on December 17th and 18th, Mr. Barenboim conducted a concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin at the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus respectively. The programme featured Gidon Kremer as soloist in Schumann's Violin Concerto and mezzo-soprano Katharina Kammerloher in Wolfgang Rihm's Drei spate Gedichte von Heiner Müller. The orchestra also performed Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde. The concert was dedicated to Heiner Müller, a close friend of Mr. Barenboim, who would have been 75 years old in January 2004.

As the old year came to a close and the new year began, Daniel Barenboim conducted the Harry Kupfer production of Tristan und Isolde on December 26th, 30th and January 3ird. Tristan was played by Christian Franz, King Marke by René Pape, Isolde by Deborah Polaski, Kurwenal by Falk Struckmann, Melot by Reiner Goldberg and Brangäne by Rosemarie Lang.

The traditional repertoire for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at the Staatsoper is Beethoven's 9th Symphony and so it was again this year. In the fourth movement, the soloists were soprano Angela Denoke, alto Simone Schröder, tenor Stephen Gould and bass Hanno Müller-Brachmann.

Daniel Barenboim was awarded Israel's prestigious Wolf Prize in Music to be presented in a ceremony in the Chagall Hall of the Knesset building in Jerusalem on May 9, 2004. The award citation describes Mr. Barenboim as "a person of profound musical and humanitarian commitment, who has distinguished himself as one of the great musicians of our time."

On the morning of November 9th, Daniel Barenboim was at the piano for a performance of Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch sung by soprano Angela Denoke and baritone Thomas Quasthoff.

Daniel Barenboim conducted four performances in November of the Thomas Langhoff production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Staatsoper Berlin. Roman Trekel sang the role of Count Almaviva, Adrianne Pieczonka was the Countess, Miah Persson played Susanna, René Pape was Figaro, Rinat Shaham was Cherubino and Rosemarie Lang was Marcellina.

Pianist Jonathan Biss was the pianist in Schumann's Introduction and Concert Allegro and Introduction and Allegro appassionato in a concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin on November 19th (at the Philharmonie) and 20th (at the Konzerthaus) in which Daniel Barenboim was the conductor. The other works on the program were Schumann's Manfred Overture and Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

Daniel Barenboim and his family, musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and past participants in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Workshop celebrated the life of Edward Said a special memorial concert in Mandel Hall at The University of Chicago.

The memorial concert included chamber music performances by Michael Barenboim, violin; Li-Kuo Chang, viola; Stephen Balderston, cello; Robert Kassinger, bass; Mohammed Saleh, oboe; Adolph (Bud) Herseth, trumpet; Elena Bashkirova, piano; and Daniel Barenboim, piano—all musicians that have been involved in the West-Eastern Divan Workshop as either students or faculty members. The program included works by Schubert, Schumann, and Haydn.

Edward Said — a noted literary critic, scholar, and advocate for Palestinian independence — died last week at the age of 67. A close friend of Daniel Barenboim, the CSO, and The University of Chicago, Mr. Said was an avid music lover and frequent audience member at CSO concerts in Chicago and abroad. His close relationship with Daniel Barenboim provided many opportunities for collaboration: Mr. Said was involved with the CSO's East West Festival in 1995; he wrote the narration for the Orchestra's production of Beethoven's opera, Fidelio during the 1997-1998 Symphony Center season; and the two men were co-founders of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Workshop, an annual program established in 1999 that brings together young Israeli and Arab musicians for three weeks of cultural dialogue and music-making each summer. In 2002, Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society, a book consisting of conversations between Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim was published by Pantheon Books.

Mr. Said was also a frequent visitor to Hyde Park. He delivered The University of Chicago English Department's Carpenter Lectures in 1983, received an honorary degree from the University in 1994, and held the Schaffner Lectureship there in 1999.

On September 25th, barely a week after their return from Lucerne, Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony launched their intensive autumn season at Symphony Hall with a reprise of their successful Lucerne performance of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night coupled with Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Evgeny Kissin at the piano. The program was repeated on September 26th and 27th. "It was one of those stunning nights in the concert hall when performances simply glow, burnished by an effable blend of impeccable technical control and an expressiveness that verges on sheer abandon. .Rarely has the communication between the orchestra and its musical chief for the past 12 years seemed so electric." (Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times).

The program for October 2, 3 and 5 featured Mozart's Third Violin Concerto and Mahler's Ninth Symphony. The soloist in the Mozart was the Orchestra's own Qing Hou in a performance described by John von Rhein as "a joy from first to last [note]." As for the Mahler, "The CSO players, who have lived, breathed and wept over this music, . played their hearts out for [Barenboim]. Such rock-solid brass and brilliant wind playing, such gorgeous strings, would be the despair of lesser orchestras. Not since Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic brought the Mahler Ninth here a decade ago has Orchestra hall heard a conductor and orchestra working together at this level of concentration, with such polished ensemble."

October 4th was the seventh annual "Marshall Field's Day of Music," during which there were 35 free musical performances by world-class artists, including jazz, soul, Latin and R&B performers. Festivities kicked off with a full-length Chicago Symphony performance of works by Richard Strauss conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Later Mr. Barenboim returned to the stage as a pianist in recital with violinist Maxim Vengerov.

Maxim Vengerov joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on October 7th, 9th and 11th in performances of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole. The program on the 7th also included Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 while on the 9th and 11th the balance of the program consisted of the world premiere of Lalo Schifrin's Fantasy for Screenplay and Orchestra, which was commissioned by the CSO, and Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite.

The musical fare for October 10th and 14th was Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, with the CSO's Mathieu Dufour as flute soloist, and Mahler's Symphony No. 9. The concerts on October 16th and 17th also featured a soloist from the ranks of the CSO, this time harpist Sarah Bullen in Ginastera's Harp Concerto. "The performance had the infectious intensity of colleagues plunging happily into invigorating waters," wrote the Sun-Times's Wynne Delacoma. The Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein wrote, "This wonderfully colourful score, with its spiky, highly charged South American rhythms and punchy percussion writing, is a tour de force for the harp soloist. Sarah Bullen . made its technical difficulties sound as simple and natural as breathing." The other works on this program were Berio's Requies for chamber orchestra, written in memory of his late wife, mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 ('Pathetique'). Mr. Barenboim dedicated the Berio work to the memory of the composer, who died in May this year.

A Gala Concert on October 18th brought the young superstar pianist Lang Lang back to Chicago for a performance with Daniel Barenboim and the CSO of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. After the interval, Mr. Barenboim and the Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's beloved Symphony No. 5 and, as an encore, the soloist and the conductor teamed up at the piano for a "lilting and vigorous, exuberant yet elegant" [Sun-Times] rendition of Schubert's Marche Militaire No. 1.

In a week-long residency at the Lucerne Festival, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Daniel Barenboim performed three different programs and gave master classes in September. This year's residency marked the final installment of the Orchestra's three-year collaboration with the Festival.

The first program featured two works by Richard Strauss: Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks; as well as Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23 in A Major and Isabel Mundry's Panorama ciego, both with Mr. Barenboim serving in the dual roles of conductor and soloist.

Program Two consisted of Schoenberg's Transfigured Night, Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

The final concert included Wagner's Overture to Tannhäuser, Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.

Peter Mussbach's production of La traviata opened the Berliner Staatsoper's 2003-2004 season with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatkapelle Berlin and the Staatsopernchor. The role of Violetta was sung by Anna Samuil, Flora by Katharina Kammerloher, Annina by Simone Schröder, Alfredo by Rolando Villazón and Giorgio by Roberto Frontali.

On September 8 (at the Philharmonie) and 10 (at the Konzerthaus), Daniel Barenboim was the soloist in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Emperor'). Michael Gielen conducted the Staatskapelle Berlin.

The fifth season of the West-Eastern Divan Workshop took place near Seville, Spain during the month of August 2003 under the direction of Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, joint recipients of the Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia 2002 Prize for Peace.

Approximately ninety young musicians came together for an intense month of orchestral workshops at Residence Lantana, a former Catholic seminary in the town of Pilas, within the province of Seville.

Mr. Barenboim and Mr. Said were joined by ten Workshop faculty members — prominent musicians from the Staatskapelle Berlin who taught, advised and guided the studies of the young musicians.

Following the workshop proper, the Orchestra gave public concerts in Lucena, Merida and Seville (Spain), London, Rabat (Morocco), Menton (France), Kiel and Berlin.

The concert, which took place in Rabat following an invitation by King Mohammed VI was the Orchestra's first in an Arab country. Despite heavy security, the concert hall, in the city's Mohamed V Theatre, was full and the musicians received a standing ovation. In the audience were King Mohamed's sisters and the country's Prime Minister. Mr. Barenboim said the choice of a Moroccan venue was significant: "Morocco has always been one of the most active Arab countries in the process of peace among Palestinians and Israelis."

Reviewing the London concert, which was part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, seating over 6,000 people, BBC News wrote, "This was a night to inspire and thrill, a night on which the hairs on the back of the neck stood on end. Daniel Barenboim's groundbreaking West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of young Jewish and Arabic musicians .. brought the Royal Albert Hall to its feet with a delightfully-executed programme."

The West-Eastern Divan Workshop and Orchestra is funded in part by the Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo, which itself was created in 1999 by the Moroccan and Andalusian Governments with the mission of promoting peace, dialogue and tolerance between Mediterranean cultures.

The West-Eastern Divan Project has received wide press coverage and was the subject of several television news items as well as a full-length documentary on British television in December 2003 (ITV: The South Bank Show).

Daniel Barenboim performed Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta at the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv.

On August 2nd, Mr. Barenboim gave an all-Beethoven recital at the Friends School in Ramallah on a piano donated by Steinway for use in a music education programme that Mr. Barenboim had initiated the previous summer.

People from around the world will be able to travel along with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on their upcoming October tour to Japan via www.cso.org/JapanTour. This newly launched Web kiosk is stocked with information about the tour's performances, artists, concert halls, destinations and more that will make up the Orchestra's three-city, eight-concert tour.

While in Japan, the CSO will performed six concerts in Tokyo (including two collaborations with the Tokyo Ballet), and one concert each in Osaka and Fukuoka. Throughout the trip, the Web kiosk was updated with musician "postcards from Japan" and photos from the road, so fans could follow along.

To learn more and to visit the Japan Tour 2003 Web kiosk, please click here.

In the fourth and final season of its residency at Madrid's Teatro Real, the Staatsoper Berlin gave four performances of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer to sold-out houses. The soloists were Peter Seiffert (Erik), Susan Anthony (Senta), Wolfgang Brendel (Holländer) Alexander Vinogradov (Daland). The Staatskapelle Berlin also performed two symphonic concerts. The first featured Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, with Daniel Barenboim as pianist and conductor, and Schumann's Second Symphony. In the second concert, Radu Lupu was the soloist in Schumann's Piano Concerto, which was followed by a performance of Mahler's Fifth Symphony. In addition to the opera and the concerts, there was a workshop with young Spanish artists (orchestra directors, stage directors, singers, stage designers and composers) led by Daniel Barenboim and Peter Mussbach, Intendant of the Staatsoper Berlin and a stage director by profession. After two weeks, the workshop culminated in a highly successful late night performance of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire with singer Anat Efraty and members of the Staatskapelle Berlin under Mr. Barenboim's direction. The staging was a result of Mr. Mussbach's work with the workshop participants.

June was a month for Beethoven sonata recitals, single concerts in Atlanta, Ottawa, Philadelphia and Chicago and a marathon Beethoven sonatas cycle and master classes at New York's Carnegie Hall. Of his Chicago recital, the Sun-Times reviewer Wynne Delcoma wrote, "Barenboim has been playing these sonatas for most of his life. He has wrestled with them as a young, gifted upstart, reconsidered them as an established artist in his prime and revisited them after the passage of decades of performance and life itself. . Sunday afternoon his signature qualities--utmost clarity of touch and an ability to illuminate even the most complicated musical structure--were on glorious display." In New York, Mr. Barenboim became only the fourth musician in the history of Carnegie Hall to attempt the full Beethoven sonatas cycle. Each of his eight performances was paired with a master class the following day in Weill Recital Hall.

A few days after returning to Chicago, the CSO and Daniel Barenboim had to change its first program at short notice because the soloist Maurizio Pollini was forced to cancel by a bad back. In his stead, Lang Lang, the young Chinese pianist, performed Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No 1. "[Lang Lang] and Barenboim shared a similar vision throughout the concerto, rapturously riding its impetuous opening movement but allowing its more lyrical moments to unfold with unaffected serenity. Lang Lang ripped through the concerto's virtuoso passages. (Chicago Sun-Times). The Orchestra also performed Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 "His tempo adjustments felt so subtle and right that there was nothing to disrupt the pull of the long, majestic lines. Bruckner's great tidal mass swelled and ebbed as if responding to emotional forces from deep within." (Chicago Tribune) The program was performed four times. For the final concert, April 29th, the soloist was the young violinist Ilya Gringolts performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

Program 2, on May 1, 2 and 3 featured works by Schoenberg, Mahler and Richard Strauss: Transfigured Night, the Rückert-Lieder with Andreas Schmidt as the soloist, and Death and Tranfiguration. "Last week's CSO concerts, with Barenboim conducting music of Schoenberg, Mahler and Richard Strauss, offered perhaps the best kind of thematic program, one that rises unmistakably from the musical content. . The evening-long atmosphere of hushed ecstasy in the face of transfiguration's awesome power was complete." (Chicago Tribune)

The program on May 8, 9 and 11 featured the world premiere of Bernard Rands's 35-minute work for soprano, chorus and orchestra titled Apokryphos with Angela Denoke as soloist. Framing the new work were Beethoven's "Ah! Perfido", with Ms. Denoke as soloist, and his Symphony No. 6.

On May 13, Daniel Barenboim joined Pinchas Zukerman and Yo-Yo Ma in their first public appearance as a trio, performing works by Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. "You could almost feel the performers drawing energy from each other, pouring it into the music and through it to the enthusiastic capacity crowd," wrote the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein.

Pianist Emanuel Ax joined the Orchestra on May 22, 23, 24 and 27 for the world première of Extremity of Sky, a new piano concerto by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner. In the words of John von Rhein, "The concerto all but explodes with bold, confident gestures and richly expressive piano writing ranging from rhapsodic to percussive. [Melinda Wagner] makes canny use of the seismic energy and vast coloristic palette of the 21st Century orchestra. [Emanuel Ax] was little short of sensational." Other works on the program were Haydn's Symphony No. 48, César Franck's Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra and Debussy's La mer.

Mr. Barenboim's spring residency concluded on May 29, 30 and 31 with performances of Elliot Carter's Of Rewaking, based on three poems by William Carlos Williams, which received its world première. The balance of the program consisted of Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. The concert on the 31st was the last concert of Henry Fogel's tenure as President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

This year marked the eighth season of the Berlin Festtage, the annual Easter week music festival established in 1996 by Daniel Barenboim. Festtage 2003 proved another popular success with 95% of the seats sold and audiences from as far afield as Venezuela, the U.S. and many European countries.

Festtage 2003 consisted of two operatic offerings at the Berliner Staatsoper (three performances of Verdi's La traviata in a new production by Peter Mussbach and two performances of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde) and three concerts by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Philharmonie.

In three performances of La traviata Christine Schäfer took over the role of Violetta from an indisposed Dina Kuznetsowa while Rolando Villazon played Alfredo and Thomas Hampson was Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont. The Süddeutsche Zeitung said, "The things Daniel Barenboim and his magnificent Staatskapelle get out of a brilliantly reduced 'essential' score may be summed up as Verdi's emotional realism, his deep truthfulness."

Tristan was sung by Ben Heppner and Isolde by Waltraud Meier, with Kwangchul Youn as König Marke, Andreas Schmidt as Kurwenal, Reiner Goldberg as Melot and Rosemarie Lang as Brangäne. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote, "The orchestra lets itself be led by Barenboim to heights that make the audience rejoice, at first inwardly, and then outwardly. The performance races ahead with irresistible forward motion. The evening proves distinctly what the Lindenopera has in Daniel Barenboim: not a conspirator but a force of inspiration."

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra programs featured Bruckner symphonies nos. 4, 7, and 9 — each one combined with a different Mahler song cycle: the "Kindertotenlieder," sung by Thomas Quasthoff; the "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" with Thomas Hampson; and the "Rückert-Lieder" with Violeta Urmana. Of Bruckner's Fourth, Der Tagesspiegel wrote, "Barenboim made a 'giant spring meadow' out of the score.And the famous American grass helped him brilliantly." A critic from Neues Deutschland commented at the same performance: "The supple brilliance of the winds and luminosity of the brass were striking." And the critic from Berliner Morgenpost wrote: " .an homage to brilliance, greatness, and powerful orchestral playing was provided in the most exquisite way by Barenboim's cool team from Chicago. They played the "Romantic" Fourth Symphony of Bruckner with nearly somnambulistic skills, changing back and forth between the demanded pathos and sensitivities, driven not only by Barenboim's authority as a conductor, but also probably by their inner urge for perfection."

The Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris was the scene of Daniel Barenboim's latest triumphant Brahms cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin in late March. Le Figaro praised the beautiful tone of the orchestra and particularly the performance of the Fourth Symphony which "reached perfection" with a clarity of architectural ensemble.

Daniel Barenboim led the Staatskapelle Berlin in a program combining Schumann Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4 with the composer's exquisite song cycle, Dichterliebe, op. 48 at the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus. Bass baritone Thomas Quasthoff was partnered in the Dichterliebe by Mr Barenboim at the piano.

Berlin's Der Tagespiegel wrote: "The sound, so old and yet so new, that the Staatskapelle Berlin cultivates under its music director Daniel Barenboim has earned them and the city of Berlin national fame for the longest time. Already in the first months of 2003, the musicians have been awarded a Grammy for the second time. The Wilhelm-Furtwängler-prize follows the Grammy."

Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize which was established by the Ermano Sens-Grosholz of Baden-Baden and Elisabeth Furtwängler, widow of the late great 20th century German conductor and composer.

Daniel Barenboim's recording of Tannhäuser with the Berlin Staatskapelle, Peter Sieffert, Waltraud Meier, Thomas Hampson and Jane Eaglen for Teldec Classics International (8573-88-64-2) received a Grammy Award for "Best Opera Recording" at a ceremony at New York's Madison Square Garden on February 23rd.

Daniel Barenboim was in Chicago for the darkest days of mid-winter but he was so busy performing four different programs, each multiple times, and recitals with Thomas Hampson and Robert Holl that he probably didn't even notice.

Program 1 featured Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Schönberg's Variations for Orchestra and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Emperor') with Radu Lupu as soloist. In the words of Chicago Tribune reviewer John von Rhein, "For the Brahms Haydn Variations, [Barenboim] drew from the orchestra a saturated, Middle Eastern type of sound closer to that of his beloved Staatskapelle Berlin than an American orchestra." In addition to three performances, this program was repeated with the young Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear as soloist in Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto.

Program 2, with Pinchas Zukerman as violin soloist, included the Elgar Violin Concerto and Sibelius's Fifth Symphony. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "Together [Barenboim and Zukerman] produced a warm-hearted view that balanced lyricism, intensity and nobility of feeling to memorable effect. . the soloist's . almost tactile immediacy made the slow movement soar on an unbroken arch of song, with Barenboim savoring countless details of scoring."

Program 3 featured the violinist Nikolaj Znaider, in Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1, as well as Haydn's Symphony No. 44 ('Mourning') and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 ('Italian'). This program was performed at the Krannert Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana as well. The Chicago Tribune said, "Znaider has this concerto in his blood. . He sustained the long lyric lines with a ravishing sweetness of tone that never turned cloying. . The audience listened as if in a trance." The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "High spirits animated the entire evening. Played by a small CSO contingent, the Haydn symphony had that full sonority that Barenboim favors in Haydn and early Mozart but it unfolded with delicate grace. Mendelssohn's 'Italian' Symphony was full of exhilarating fire."

Program 4 featured Robert Chen, principal violinist of the CSO in Elliott Carter's Violin Concerto in addition to Haydn's Symphony No. 49 ('The Passion') and two works by Richard Strauss: Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. Reviewer Wynne Delacome in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "These [were] the first CSO performances of Carter's Violin Concerto, but the orchestra sounded as at ease with its intricate, abruptly shifting rhythms and off-kilter melodic contours as they are with Beethoven or Stravinsky. Barenboim adores Carter's knotty music, and he has been conducting it regularly with the CSO for the past decade. From the frisky brass to Chen's clean, crisp solo violin, there was little of the tentativeness that can blur the edges of an unfamiliar work's first performance. The CSO knows Carter's musical voice well, and the result was a confident, richly detailed performance."

In 2003, the Sara Lee Vocalist Series at Symphony Hall in Chicago is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the death of Hugo Wolf. On February 15th, Daniel Barenboim and baritone Thomas Hampson performed Wolf's Mörike Lieder, repeated two days later at Carnegie Hall in New York. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "With Barenboim providing piano accompaniment that was orchestral in its myriad shifting moods and shades, and Hampson's expressive baritone giving us richly detailed but never fussy insight into the texts by Mörike, Goethe and Eichendorff, this was an evening of song to savor." On March 9th, Barenboim was joined by bass-baritone Robert Holl in a recital of Wolf's Michelangelo Lieder. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "The Wolf song series has provided a rare opportunity to explore a neglected area of the repertory along with four notable lieder singers and Barenboim, whose accompaniments have been crucial to the series's artistic success. It was good to have the Dutch bass-baritone back . The voice is firm and rounded in timbre, with good resonance and a dark richness at the bottom of his range. With his superb German diction and musicianship, Holl is a lieder interpreter to be respected."

When New York City was under two feet of snow, Daniel Barenboim and Thomas Hampson went through with their Hugo Wolf recital at a Carnegie Hall that was less than half full. But, in the words of New York Times reviewer Bernard Holland, "Those who came evidently wanted to [come] badly, creating in the process an almost electric intensity of listening. . Mr. Hampson's baritone was in splendid shape, and his range from quiet to expansive beautifully controlled . Mr. Barenboim occupied the crucial piano parts with a kind of private virtuosity. Music was lived but not overpowered. A satisfying evening."

The first week of February ended with three performances in which Daniel Barenboim conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a program consisting of Mozart's Piano Concerto K488, Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole, Alborada del gracioso, Pavane pour une infante défunte and Boléro and Isabel Mundry's "Panorama ciego" for Piano and Orchestra. Daniel Barenboim was the piano soloist for the Mozart and the Mundry works. "Panorama ciego," a piano concerto, was co-commissioned by the Chicago symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Daniel Barenboim led the Staatskapelle Berlin on a triumphant European tour throughout January with concerts in Madrid, Tenerife, Las Palmas, London, Birmingham, Köln, Hamburg, Brussels, Luxembourg, Baden-Baden, Zurich and Vienna. The repertoire was the Symphonies of Schumann and Brahms. In several of the cities, they performed the four symphonies of Brahms or of Schumann on two consecutive nights. In Vienna, they performed all eight symphonies on four consecutive nights. The Independent wrote of their London Brahms cycle, "Thrilled, enlightened, refreshed - and this after two nights of Brahms. The old stalwart of the symphonic repertoire has gone so far out of fashion that performances of any symphony, let alone all four, are hard to find. Last week's cycle came with a visit from the Berlin Staatskapelle and Daniel Barenboim . They were rewarded by packed, probably surprised, and by the end excited and noisy houses. .Set against the glamour of the Berlin Philharmonic this is Berlin's forgotten band, based at the former east side's opera house and working hard in the theatre most of the year. All that exercise keeps it fit and very traditional in tone: more like the Leipzig and Dresden orchestras than the Philharmonic, and in many ways preferable ."