Barenboim OTA-Berlin
Conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are to play a concert for Benedict XVI today – on 11 July, St. Benedict’s Day so the Pope’s name-day – at the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo. The Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo comprise about 55 hectares (11 more than Vatican City) of which 30 make up a garden while 25 are used for farming.
The programme will feature works by the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven – a favorite of the Pope’s apparently and whose music will be the focal point of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’s 2012 summer tour.
After its opening performance in Munich, Germany, on 10 July the orchestra will take in Versailles, France; Geneva, Switzerland; the BBC Proms in London, England, and the Salzburg Festival in Austria, among other venues. The concert scheduled for Berlin’s Waldbuhne on 29 July will be one of the highlights of the “Beethoven for All” summer tour and will again be in aid of educational projects organised by the orchestra in Israel and Palestine.
The ‘Vatican Information Service’ writing over its website wrote the following- http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=120097
“Benedict XVI has long promoted active dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims”, says a communique on the event released today. “In 1999 Barenboim and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a grouping of musicians from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey and Spain. Every year they come together for summer workshops, which take their inspiration from the spirit of music and a willingness to engage with the views and experiences of the assembled musicians, each with personal ties to the troubled situation in the Middle East”.
Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 1999 and its musicians come from Israel and Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey and Spain. Since its founding, the orchestra in many countries in Europe, North and South America and the Middle East has played.
Read my review of last years concert of Daniel Barenboim & West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performing Beethovens 9th symphony in the Berliner Waldbühne – a fantastic concert! – http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/08/22/concert-review-waldbuhne-berlin-beethovens-9th-symphony-live-in-berlin-forest-west-eastern-divan-orchestra-barenboim-by-filip-van-der-plas/ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb8-CFrGDms
More about the orchestra and its activiites at – http://www.west-eastern-divan.org/
The following articles on the OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog deal in more detail with the 9th Symphony -http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/10/05/beethovens-9th-symphony-manuscript-on-display-in-berlin/
The following previous articles on the OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog deal with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra -http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/10/31/daniel-barenboim-and-the-west-eastern-divan-orchestra-win-this-years-westphalian-peace-prize/
The following previous articles on the OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog deal with Daniel Barenboim -http://www.ota-berlin.de/blog/02/13/daniel-barenboim-wins-dresden-preis/
See also BEETHOVEN FOR ALL!!!
Ludwig van Beethoven OTA-Berlin
http://www.beethoven-for-all.com/en/about/
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Daniel Barenboim & West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to perform Beethoven today in Vatican for Pope Benedict XVI – by Filip van der Plas from OTA Berlin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany License. If you use this article or parts of it, please refer to http://www.ota-berlin.de.
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Happy news. Thank you!
However, the West-East Divan did not perform for the Pope at the Vatican today but at his summer home in Castel Gandolfo where Popes try to flee the Roman heat from July to September. This Pope loves music and has a great admiration for Barenboim and his (and Said’s) project of bringing together the various strands of Abrahamic religions through the God-given medium of music.
I watched on the Vatican Player and was very moved to see Barenboim introduce so many orchestral players (and other people) to the Pope after the performance and after Benedict’s thank you speech to them.
Barenboim clearly gave a short and animated background sketch of all these people and this the Pope enjoyed visibly. A lot of warmth flying all around with the Pope greeting everyone with both hands and keeping this stance for as long as Barenboim spoke about each individiual. Much joy. Lots of beauty. May one utter the word “love”? Yes!
Dear Ann
Thank you very much for your very nice mail!
And yes you are absolutely right about the location……….it is in fact his summer home in Castel Gandolfo…far away from the hustle and bustle of the honking horns and Vespas from Roman streets!
Barenboim is indeed a great and compassionate man and artist and good for the Pope to see this.
best regards from Berlin
FvdP