Daniel Barenboim & West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

In 1999 Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, named after Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan poetry anthology.

The aim of the orchestra was to bring together Arabs, Iranians and Israelis, through musical ensembles. By creating a space where young musicians from opposing backgrounds can perform and play alongside one another, the orchestra acts as a platform for finding mutual understanding, sympathy and respect.

Based in Seville, Spain, the orchestra is made up of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, and Hispanic young musicians.  Described as a ‘project against ignorance’, the founding principle of the Divan is to facilitate young people to get to know each other and understand how the other lives, thinks and feels.

For this special 25th anniversary concert, the orchestra will be conducted by co-founder Daniel Barenboim.

The evening’s programme sees the orchestra play major works from their orchestral repertoire, concluding with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.4, the Italian.