Daniel Barenboim, the renowned conductor known for his work with prestigious orchestras and his dedication to peace through music, has announced his Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. Despite the diagnosis, Barenboim plans to continue his musical commitments and focus on ensuring the future of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a project he co-founded to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.
One of the world's most renowned conductors, Daniel Barenboim, has revealed he is living with Parkinson's Disease. The 82-year-old maestro has held prestigious positions as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin State Opera, and La Scala in Milan. However, Barenboim is equally celebrated for his tireless efforts to promote peace through music in the Middle East. In 2022, he scaled back his performance schedule after developing a 'serious neurological condition'.
Now, in a statement released on Thursday, he confirmed the long-suspected diagnosis of Parkinson's. \'I know that many people have been concerned about my health,' he wrote, expressing gratitude for the overwhelming support he has received over the past three years. Barenboim emphasized that this diagnosis does not signify retirement. He intends to 'maintain as many of my professional commitments as my health permits.' His primary concern remains ensuring the future of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a project he co-founded in 1999. \'It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace,' Barenboim once noted. 'It isn't. It's not going to bring peace, whether you play well or not so well. The Divan was conceived as a project against ignorance. A project against the fact that it is absolutely essential for people to get to know the other, to understand what the other thinks and feels, without necessarily agreeing with it.' Born in Argentina to Jewish parents, Barenboim rose to fame as a prodigious young pianist before relocating to Israel as a teenager. He went on to become a leading conductor, first in Israel and then in Australia with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. He married the British cellist Jacqueline du Pré in Jerusalem in 1967, with du Pré converting to Judaism. Following her death, he married the Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova. He became general musical director at Berlin's State Opera in 1992 and is credited with reviving its fortunes after it fell into obscurity under communism.Barenboim has also been known for his courageous and controversial stance on performing Wagner's music. Wagner's music had been unofficially banned in Israel because of his anti-Semitic beliefs and his status as Adolf Hitler's favorite composer. Barenboim initially yielded to protests from Holocaust survivors and pressure from politicians, but at the end of a concert, he asked the audience if they wanted him to play Wagner anyway. While some protested, calling it 'the music of the concentration camps,' the majority of concertgoers requested him to continue. The performance concluded with a standing ovation. The conductor argued that, while Wagner was undoubtedly anti-semitic, he died long before the rise of Nazism, and his music was 'too important' to be ignored. As well as holding Israeli citizenship, he accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship in 2008, becoming the first person to hold both Israeli and Palestinian passports. In his statement, the conductor vowed to continue conducting the West-Eastern Divan 'whenever my health allows me to.' 'At the same time,' he continued, 'I will take an active role in ensuring that the Divan has the opportunity of working with excellent conductors going forward. I have been navigating this new reality of mine and my focus is on receiving the best available care. I thank everyone for their kindness and well-wishes.
PARKINSON's DISEASE DANIEL BARENBOIM CONDUCTOR MUSIC WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ORCHESTRA PEACE ISRAEL PALESTINE
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