THE UNITED NATIONS’ DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AT 60, ELLIOTT CARTER AT 100, AND A HISTORIC MET DEBUT
December 2008

Barenboim’s concert schedule is marked by three historic occasions this week, beginning with the composer Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday on December 11th. The composer will attend his own centennial concert at Carnegie Hall to hear Barenboim perform the work Carter wrote for him: Interventions for piano and orchestra, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and James Levine.

On Sunday the 14th, Barenboim will perform an all-Liszt piano recital at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. He will be the first pianist to play a solo recital on the Met’s stage since Vladimir Horowitz did so in the 1980s. The program includes Liszt’s virtuosic operatic paraphrases on Aida, Il Trovatore, and Rigoletto.

The following day, members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will join Barenboim in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations to perform Schubert’s Trout Quintet in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights.

AMERICAN TOUR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
November/December 2008

In late November, Daniel Barenboim returns to the United States after a long absence for performances in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. His first performance will be a chamber music concert on November 23rd at Carnegie Hall with James Levine, which includes works for piano four hands by Schubert and Brahms. Five days later on the 28th, performances of Tristan und Isolde will commence at the Metropolitan Opera, marking Barenboim’s debut late in his opera career. Barenboim brings his own Berlin cast (including Katarina Dalayman as Isolde and Peter Seifert as Tristan) to Dieter Dorn’s production. He will conduct six performances between November 28th and December 20th.

Between two performances at the Met, Barenboim will find the time to perform two concerts as soloist with the Boston Symphony and James Levine at Symphony Hall on December 4th and 5th. The program will be repeated one week later on the 11th in celebration of Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday. The composer, who plans to attend his own birthday celebration, wrote a piano concerto, Interventions, for Barenboim especially for this occasion. (To read more about Barenboim’s views on Elliott Carter, see his article about Carter in the Journal). Carter’s centenary celebration concert will also include Schubert’s Fantasie for piano four hands and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.

STAATSOPER 2009 FESTTAGE TICKET SALES OPEN
November 2008

Tickets are now available for the 2009 Staatsoper Festtage, 4-12 April 2009. This year’s festival includes three opera performances—Stefan Herheim’s new production of Lohengrin—and five symphony concerts, including a first-time appearance by the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala of Milan under Daniel Barenboim. Soloists include Yefim Bronfman, René Pape, Thomas Quasthoff, Lang Lang, and Dorothea Röschmann. For complete programs and ticket information, visit www.staatsoper-berlin.de

MAHLER IN VIENNA, BARTOK AND BERLIOZ IN MILAN, AND BENEFIT CONCERT IN BERLIN
October 2008

This week Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez are rehearsing with the Staatskapelle Berlin for the first half of a Mahler cycle in Vienna. From 28 October – 2 November, Barenboim and Boulez will lead the Staatskapelle nearly every evening in the Musikverein. This half of the cycle (which will be continued in April/May 2009) begins and ends with Barenboim, who will perform the First and Fifth Symphonies as well as three song cycles. Boulez will perform symphonies no. 2, 3, and 4, and other song cycles. The vocal soloists include Roman Trekel, Thomas Quasthoff, Dorothea Röschmann, Violeta Urmana, and Petra Lang.
Immediately after the final Mahler concert in Vienna, Barenboim will return to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he will open the symphonic season of the Filarmonica della Scala on 3 November with Bartok’s Third Piano Concerto (with soloist Radu Lupu) and Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique. On the following evenings, 3 – 6 November, the program will be repeated; only the first half of the concert will alternate. The Third Bartok Piano Concerto will be replaced by the Second, performed by soloist Roger Muraro.
On 9 November, an important historical date in Germany, Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon will join Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin in the Berliner Philharmonie at 4:00 PM for a benefit concert to raise funds for the renovation of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Reconstruction of the building, which is considered a historical monument, is set to begin in 2010 and continue until 2013. The concert program will include opera arias from Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Bizet, as well as a Spanish Zarzuela.

BARENBOIM CYCLE CONTINUED AT THE STAATSOPER BERLIN
October 2008

The Barenboim Cycle, a series of Sunday matinee concerts in the Staatsoper Berlin, continues this month with a chamber music concert on October 19th featuring the works of Shostakovich, Ustwolskaja, and Gubaidulina. The program corresponds to the Russian theme at the Staatsoper this autumn, exemplified by Prokofiev’s The Gambler and the new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. The works to be performed in the matinee were chosen to represent the continuation of 20th century Russian composition. It will open with a work by Sofia Gubaidulina, Silenzio: Five Pieces for Accordion, Violoncello, and Violin, followed by Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata Op. 147, the composer’s last work. The second half of the program begins with the trio Dona Nobis Pacem (for the unlikely combination of piccolo, tuba and piano) by Shostakovich student Galina Ustwolskaja, and ends with Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in g minor Op. 47. Barenboim will be joined by members of the Staatskapelle Berlin: Simone van der Velde, piccolo, Thomas Keller, tuba, Wolf-Dieter Batzdorf and Axel Wilczok, violins, Yulia Deyneka, viola, Sennu Laine, cello; and guest accordionist Omer Wellber.

AUTUMN IN BERLIN, JERUSALEM, AND BOMBAY
October 2008

Last season, Daniel Barenboim began a cycle of Bruckner and Schönberg with the Staatskapelle Berlin which continues this fall. In September, they performed Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony and Schönberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw in the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, and on October 15th and 16th, they will perform Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and Schönberg’s Sechs Lieder Op. 8 with Deborah Polaski.

September was an extremely active month for Barenboim, who spent nearly the whole time at the Staatsoper Berlin. He conducted several performances of The Gambler, Tristan und Isolde, and Achim Freyer’s new production of Eugene Onegin; he performed a Lieder Matinee with Thomas Quasthoff; and led the Staatskapelle in an all-Elliott Carter program. Carter plans to celebrate his 100th birthday on December 11th, 2008 with the Boston Symphony, James Levine, and Barenboim, who will perform the world premiere of his work for piano and orchestra, Interventions.

In between his numerous performances at the Staatsoper, he made a brief appearance at the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, where he conducted the world premiere of Elliott Carter’s Flute Concerto with flutist Emmanuel Pahud and an ensemble made up of Jerusalem Festival participants. The piece was a joint commission by the Jerusalem Festival, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony. On the same evening, Rolando Villazon made his Israeli debut at the Jerusalem Festival, singing Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets with Barenboim.

On October 3rd, Barenboim performed Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto and Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with the Staatskapelle Halle and its new music director Karl-Heinz Steffens in a show of solidarity for the orchestra, whose existence is threatened by impending budget cuts. Barenboim gave a brief speech at the concert in which he urged the audience to consider that the highest form of economizing is to invest in future generations: in other words, in culture and education.

On October 7th, Barenboim performed Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in Bombay with Zubin Mehta to support the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation for musical education in India.

EUGENE ONEGIN AT THE STAATSOPER BERLIN
September 2008

Daniel Barenboim will conduct the first premiere of the Staatsoper’s season on September 27th. Achim Freyer directed the new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; the cast includes Anna Samuil, Maria Gortsevskaya, Katharina Kammerloher, Roman Trekel, René Pape and Rolando Villazón.


THE GAMBLER, TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, AND FIDELIO AT THE STAATSOPER BERLIN
September 2008

This month at the Staatsoper Berlin, Daniel Barenboim will perform three great operas from three different epochs in three weeks. Stéphane Braunschweig’s production of Fidelio, which was broadcast live for open-air viewing adjacent to the Staatsoper on August 30th, will be repeated on September 6th (indoors only) with a cast including Johan Botha and Waltraud Meier. Continuing in chronological order the following day, Tristan und Isolde will be sung by Robert Gambill and Katarina Dalayman; further performances of the opera will take place on September 14th and 21st. Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Prokofiev’s Gambler, a co-production with the Teatro alla Scala, returns to the Staatsoper from Milan on September 5th with further performances on September 9th, 11th, and 19th.


“STAATSOPER FOR ALL” ON AUGUST 30TH AND 31ST IN BERLIN
August 2008

On Saturday, August 30th at 7:00 PM, Daniel Barenboim performed Beethoven’s Fidelio with singers Waltraud Meier, Johan Botha und Falk Struckmann. The performance in the Staatsoper Berlin was broadcast simultaneously on a 70-square-meter screen that was erected in Berlin’s Bebelplatz, the plaza adjoining the Staatsoper Berlin. The free open-air viewing was attended by more than 20,000 people. The following afternoon, Barenboim performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the same plaza on an outdoor stage with singers Anna Samuil, Simone Schröder, Burkhard Fritz and Christof Fischesser for over 25,000 audience members. German President Horst Köhler was among those present at the free concert.

BOOK RELEASE IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN
August 2008

Daniel Barenboim’s new book is a collection of essays relating to the author’s lifelong pursuit of knowledge and understanding, not only of music and of life, but of one through the other. As he himself says in the introduction, “this is not a book for musicians, nor is it one for non-musicians, but rather for the curious mind that wishes to discover the parallels between music and life and the wisdom that becomes audible to the thinking ear.”

Everything is Connected, Orion Books
Klang ist Leben, Siedler Verlag
La Musique Éveille le Temps, Édition Fayard

WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ORCHESTRA ON TOUR IN EUROPE
August 2008

Daniel Barenboim conducted and performed with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in several concerts throughout Europe and Scandinavia. This summer’s repertoire included Schönberg’s Varations Op. 31, Brahms’s Fourth Symphony, and a concert version of the first act of Wagner’s die Walküre with soloists Waltraud Meier/Angela Denoke as Sieglinde, Simon O’Neill as Siegmund, and John Tomlinson/René Pape as Hunding. Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante was performed by Israeli violinist Guy Braunstein, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, Egyptian cellist Hassan Moataz, newly appointed sub-principal cellist of the Qatar Symphony Orchestra, Israeli bassoonist Mor Biron, second bassoonist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Andalusian oboist Ramon Ortega, principal oboist of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos was also performed by Israeli pianist Yael Kareth, Jordanian pianist Karim Said, and Barenboim, who conducted as well. The orchestra performed outdoors in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, at the BBC Proms in London, in the Philharmonie Cologne, Copenhagen’s Tivoli Hall, Oslo’s new Den Norske Opera house, Stockholm’s Berwald Hall, the Berlin Waldbühne, and the Salle Pleyel in Paris. After a cancellation of an open-air concert in Amman, Jordan due to security concerns, the orchestra was invited to perform at the Ravello Festival on Italy’s Amalfi coast. The all-Wagner program was broadcast live on Arte.

RHEIN-RUHR AND SALZBURG FESTIVALS
July 2008

In late July, Daniel Barenboim performed duo recitals with Lang Lang in Essen and Salzburg. The program included works by Ravel and Liszt as well as Bartok’s Sonata for two pianos and percussion. Timpanist Torsten Schönfeld and percussionist Dominic Oelze of the Staatskapelle Berlin joined Barenboim and Lang Lang for the Bartok. Barenboim also gave two performances of Bartok’s First Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festspielhaus.

BRUCKNER SYMPHONIES IN MILAN AND GRANADA
July 2008

At the conclusion of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s 2007/2008 season, Daniel Barenboim led the orchestra in performances of Bruckner’s three final symphonies in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala and in Granada in the Alhambra’s open-air venue, Palacio Carlos V.

PROKOFIEV’S GAMBLER AND BEETHOVEN PIANO SONATA CYCLE AT LA SCALA
June 2008

Throughout the second half of the month of June, Daniel Barenboim alternated between performances of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Prokofiev’s seldom-performed opera The Gambler, based on Dostoyevksy's novella. Director Dmitri Tcherniakov also designed the set and costumes for the acclaimed co-production with the Staatsoper Berlin, which had its premiere in March 2008. Mischa Didyk, Kristine Opolais, and Vladimir Ognovenko sang the major roles in the opera’s cast of nearly two dozen.

Daniel Barenboim will conduct the Staatskapelle Berlin in Sao Paolo and Buenos Aires at the end of the month, performing seven concerts. Bruckner Symphonies 7, 8, and 9 and a concert performance of Tristan and Isolde are on the program, among other works by Mahler and Schönberg. The Wagner opera was originally scheduled to be performed in the newly renovated Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, but due to delays in construction work in the theatre, the performances of the Staatskapelle have been relocated to the Teatro Coliseo and the 10,000-seat Luna Park Stadium.


A CONCERT FOR TWO PEOPLES
March 2008

On Friday, March 28, 2008 at 5:30 pm at the Mary Nathanel Golden Hall of Friendship, YMCA Jerusalem, Daniel Barenboim performed as conductor and soloist with the Mozart Orchestra, a chamber orchestra formed specially for the occasion and made up of young Israeli and Palestinian musicians. Guy Braunstein, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, led the orchestra, and Saleem Abboud Ashkar also performed as soloist.

DANIEL BARENBOIM AWARDED SOAS’S FIRST HONORARY DOCTOR OF MUSIC DEGREE
February 2008

The School of Oriental and African Studies in London chose Daniel Barenboim as the recipient of its first honorary doctorate in music in recognition of the work of the Barenboim-Said Foundation and of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. The award was conferred by SOAS President and leading human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy, and a congratulatory oration was given by Professor Keith Howard of the School’s Music Department.

DANIEL BARENBOIM AWARDED ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY GOLD MEDAL
January 2008

Daniel Barenboim has been awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society [RPS] Gold
Medal, one of the most prestigious honours in classical music. He was presented with
the medal by Graham Sheffield, Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society,
at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Monday 28 January following the opening concert of
his Beethoven Sonata Cycle.

SUNDAY MATINÉES AT STAATSOPER BERLIN TO SHOWCASE DANIEL BARENBOIM AS VOCAL ACCOMPANIST, PIANIST AND CONDUCTOR
January 2008

Over the course of the 2007-2008 season, Daniel Barenboim’s multi-faceted musicianship will be demonstrated in a new series of Sunday Matinées on the stage of the Staatsoper Berlin. He will partner at the piano singers Christine Schäefer, Dorothea Röschmann, Magdalena Kožená and Thomas Quasthoff; he will conduct the Staatskapelle Berlin’s Orchestra Academy made up of musicians from the Staatskapelle Berlin; and he will give an all-Liszt piano recital featuring paraphrases from Verdi operas. More information about the Sunday Matinée series can be found on the Staatsoper Berlin website, www.staatsoper-berlin.de.