Reply #16: saids legacy [View All]

[dudeness]

Barenboim made headlines a year ago when, coaxed by longtime friend and Palestinian humanist Edward Said, he gave his first piano recital in Ramallah at the National Conservatory of Palestine (part of Birzeit University). At the comclusion of that recital - believed to be the first in Palestinian territory by a Jewish artist since Yehudi Menuhin played there decades ago - Barenboim joined Arab pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar in a round of four-hand Schubert. „I felt the need to stretch out my hand, to bring together people who are suffering such animosities," Barenboim said at the time.

Month later, in Weimar, the conductor stretched his hand out even farther. From August 1 to 18, Barenboim and coaches led daily orchestra rehearsals at the Belvedere Music Grammar School, a boarding school for young musicians. Evenings after dinner, the youths piled back into the rehearsal hall for impromptu discussions moderated by the Argentine-born Israeli conductor and Palestinian Said (whose political stance favors co-existence and multiple nationalities for the lands claimed by Israel and Palestine). Life, art, and matters of musical and multiple identity were tossed about and challenged, usually fortified by some midnight music making from Ma and Barenboim.


http://www.divan-weimar.de/english/press/presse_6.htm