the projects & institutions
Discover the institutions born from the friendship of Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said
a new festival bringing projects together
Daniel Barenboim Stiftung
Established in 2008, the Daniel Barenboim Stiftung in Berlin supports transcultural dialogue and aims to foster “Education Through Music.” The foundation strives to overcome frontiers and to contribute to important reforms and renewals. In this effort, music plays a key role: both as a universal language that can help to encourage mutual acceptance between people of profoundly different backgrounds and as an intuitive means of communication that has a major role to play in the prevention and reconciliation of conflicts. The foundation is the umbrella organization for the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Barenboim-Said Akademie, and the Pierre Boulez Saal. Its main activities include the management of the orchestra’s international tours, various music and education projects primarily in the Middle East—such as the Barenboim-Said Center for Music in Ramallah—as well as individual grant programs.
west-eastern divan orchestra
Das 1999 in Weimar von Daniel Barenboim und Edward W. Said gegründete West-Eastern Divan Orchestra ermöglicht durch die Erfahrung gemeinsamen Musizierens seit mehr als 25 Jahren einen Dialog zwischen den Kulturen des Nahen Ostens. Das Orchester, dessen Mitglieder aus Israel, Palästina, Iran, Syrien, der Türkei und anderen Ländern der Region stammen, gastiert in den bedeutendsten Konzertsälen weltweit und wurde 2016 zum UN-Botschafter für kulturelle Verständigung ernannt.
barenboim-said akademie
Since 2015, young musicians from the Middle East, North Africa, and other countries have been studying at the Barenboim-Said Akademie, an institution of higher music education in Berlin. Regular teaching activities for up to 90 students began in the fall of 2016 with a four-year bachelor program that includes a stronger focus on the Humanities and musicology than is common in professional music education. A master’s program was added in 2024. The Barenboim-Said Akademie’s central idea is expressed in a spirit of inclusion and diversity: through playing and listening, students learn to accept differences, to engage in open discussion, and to discover the humanistic ideals of the Enlightenment. The Akademie, which shares its building with the Pierre Boulez Saal, is dedicated to the pedagogical spirit of Edward W. Said and Daniel Barenboim, which tries to overcome ideological trenches. With its unique, innovative academic offerings, the Akademie keeps alive a dialogue that stands up to the political upheaval of the contemporary world.
Pierre boulez saal
The Pierre Boulez Saal was designed by architect Frank Gehry and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota and opened in March 2017; the upcoming season marks the hall’s tenth anniversary. Together with the Barenboim-Said Akademie, it is housed in a former set storage building of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. An ellipse-shaped, modular space in which sound and architecture blend in a unique way, the concert hall in the heart of Berlin offers almost unlimited possibilities to experience music—from solo works to chamber music in all its forms to orchestral repertoire, from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras to 20th-century classics and world premieres. The idea of “Music for the Thinking Ear” serves as a motto, inspired by the artistic curiosity of Pierre Boulez. It is most directly expressed in the concerts of the Boulez Ensemble, which was founded by Daniel Barenboim. In addition to chamber music from the 18th to the 21st centuries, music from the Middle East and Northern Africa as well as jazz form major parts of the program.
Barenboim-Said Center for Music, Ramallah
Through a variety of musical offerings, the Barenboim-Said Center for Music in Ramallah encourages and educates young Palestinians with the goal of developing their artistic talents and personal growth. By providing top-level musical education, the Center hopes to open a path forward for its students to continue their studies abroad at higher institutions of music education. Qualified graduates will have the opportunity to enroll at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. As an independent Palestinian entity, the Barenboim-Said Center for Music offers a curriculum of eight years. Students receive music lessons in individual instruments, voice, music theory, chamber music, choir, and orchestra.
Fundación barenboim-said, seville
The Fundación Barenboim-Said was established in 2004 in Seville, where the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was based during its early years. It is a public foundation of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and its work today is focused on music education. The Academy of Orchestral Studies prepares young instrumentalists in Seville for careers in professional orchestras. Classes take place at weekends and are taught by musicians from leading European orchestras. Across Andalusia, the foundation teaches music as part of the regular school day, reaching children aged three to five in twenty-two public schools in Córdoba, Granada, Málaga, and Seville. The foundation has also run music education projects in Palestine since 2003, and presents a free chamber music series at the Palacio de San Telmo. It is independent from the Daniel Barenboim Stiftung in Berlin, with which it collaborates closely on shared initiatives and events.