West-Eastern Divan Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

Since then the project has repeatedly shown that playing music together can help dismantle barriers that seem insurmountable. Barenboim himself has referred to it lovingly as his »little flame of hope«. The General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera has wielded the conductor’s baton over all the world’s leading orchestras, but his real passion is the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the most important project of his career.

However, the orchestra is not just a project for international understanding and Barenboim’s own personal peace initiative. First and foremost, it is a world-class ensemble that appears at the top festivals and major concert venues all over the world, among them New York’s Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms, the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Salzburg Festival. One special highlight in the orchestra’s history was the concert they gave before the general assembly of the United Nations to mark the retirement of UNO Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006.