West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra ( German Orchestra of the West-Eastern Divan ) is an in Weimar, founded as part of the European Capital of Culture 1999 symphony orchestra, composed of young musicians aged 14 to 25 years, which, from Egypt, Syria, Iran Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Israel, Palestine and Andalusia come and meet once a year for a work and subsequent performance period. It was founded by the Argentine- Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, who was born in Palestine American literary scholar Edward Said and the Commissioner-General of the European Capital of Culture, Bernd Kauffmann. After two phases of work and performance in Weimar in 1999 and 2000, the current seat of the orchestra in Seville. In 2007, the orchestra with the Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists Award.
Idea
The two founders split - Said died in 2003 - the vision of a peaceful coexistence of nations in the Middle East. The name is derived from the West-Eastern Divan, a collection of poems to the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by the Persian poet Hafiz and his Diwan ( collection of poems ) was inspired.
Musical and peace work
In August 1999, the first working meeting of the musicians in Weimar took place. 2000, the musicians met again in Weimar, 2001 in Chicago, and since 2002 in Seville in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. In the province of Granada Jews, Muslims and Christians lived peacefully and mutually enriching together centuries ago. The summer tours have taken the orchestra regularly on several continents. One of the main objectives Barenboim is to let the orchestra play in all countries of origin of the musicians.
In August 2005, a highly regarded concert in Ramallah took place, which was broadcast in many countries live on television. Performances in Israel and in Egypt were not previously possible.
As part of a series of concerts in South Korea, a peace concert took place on the border with communist North Korea on August 15, 2011. This Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed on.
Honors
- 2007 Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists
- 2010 Westphalian Peace Prize, Youth Prize
Movies
- Paul Smaczny: Knowledge is the Beginning (English ... we can only reduce the hate ) Documentary 2006, ( awarded, inter alia, the International Emmy Award in 2006 for " Best Arts Programming" )
- Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said: parallels and paradoxes. About music and society. Berlin 2004.
- Elena Cheah: " The power of music. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. " With a foreword by Daniel Barenboim. Edition Elke Heidenreich C.Bertelsmann. Munich 2009 - The original edition was published in: . Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milano 2009.