Daniel Barenboim

• Conductor
• Pianist

Reviews

Daniel Barenboim Awards and recognitions

Istanbul International Music Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009

Léonie Sonning Music Prize, 2009

Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, 2008

International Service Award for the Global Defence of Human Rights, 2008

Goethe Medal, Praemium Imperiale, 2007

Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur, 2007

Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal, 2004

Wolf Prize in Arts, 2004 (According to the documentary "Knowledge Is the Beginning", Barenboim donated all the proceeds to music education for Israeli and Palestinian youth)

Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize, 2003 (with Staatskapelle Berlin)

Tolerance Prize, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, 2002

Prince of Asturias Awards, 2002 (jointly with Edward Said)

Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz, 2002

Honorary degrees

Doctor of Philosophy - Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1996

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2003

Doctor of Music - D.Mus., University of Oxford, 2007

Doctor of Music - D.Mus., SOAS, University of London, 2008

Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording:

Christoph Classen (producer), Eberhard Sengpiel, Tobias Lehmann (engineers), Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Jane Eaglen, Thomas Hampson, Waltraud Meier, René Pape, Peter Seiffert, the Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin & the Staatskapelle Berlin for Wagner: Tannhäuser (2003)

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

Daniel Barenboim, Dale Clevenger, Larry Combs, Daniele Damiano, Hansjörg Schellenberger & the Berlin Philharmonic for Beethoven/Mozart: Quintets (Chicago-Berlin) (1995)

Daniel Barenboim & Itzhak Perlman for Brahms: The Three Violin Sonatas (1991)

Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance:

Daniel Barenboim (conductor) & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 (1992)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

Martin Fouqué (producer), Eberhard Sengpiel (engineer), Daniel Barenboim, Dale Clevenger, Larry Combs, Alex Klein, David McGill & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Richard Strauss Wind Concertos (Horn Concerto; Oboe Concerto, etc.) (2002)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra):

Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Itzhak Perlman & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Elgar: Violin Concerto in B Minor (1983)

Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Arthur Rubinstein & the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos (1977) (also awarded Grammy Award for Best Classical Album)

 Wolf Prize

In May 2004, Barenboim was awarded the Wolf Prize at a ceremony at the Israeli Knesset. Education Minister Livnat originally held up the nomination until Barenboim apologized for his earlier performance of Wagner in Israel. He took the opportunity to express his opinions on the political situation, referring to the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948:

"I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite all our achievements, ignore the intolerable gap between what the Declaration of Independence promised and what was fulfilled, the gap between the idea and the realities of Israel? Does the condition of occupation and domination over another people fit the Declaration of Independence? Is there any sense in the independence of one at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other? Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people? Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic dream of an ideological end to the conflict instead of pursuing a pragmatic, humanitarian one based on social justice?"

Education Minister Livnat and Israeli President Moshe Katsav criticized Barenboim for his speech.

Later, in March 2007, the New York Times quoted Barenboim as saying, "The whole subject of Wagner in Israel has been politicized and is a symptom of a malaise that goes very deep in Israeli society, a malaise that is also a result of being an occupying power for 40 years. I don’t believe that this is something that one can do and not feel an effect upon oneself. I think that the occupation is morally abhorrent. I don’t think any country has a right to occupy another, and certainly not we, the Jewish people, with our history."