West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

For more than 25 years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has been a significant presence on the international music scene. In 1999, Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian literary scholar Edward W. Said created an orchestra to promote dialogue between the different cultures of the Middle East through music-making and co-existence. They named the orchestra and workshop after Goethe’s collection of poetry West-östlicher Divan, a central work for the development of the concept of world culture.

The first rehearsal sessions took place in Weimar and Chicago. The orchestra brings together musicians from Israel, Palestine and other Arab countries, as well as Turkey and Iran. They meet each summer for a workshop, where rehearsals are complemented by lectures and discussions and followed by an international tour.

Music grants the individual the right and the obligation to express him- or herself fully while listening to their neighbor. Based on this notion of equality, co-operation, and justice for all, the orchestra proving time and again that music can built bridges and break down barriers previously considered insurmountable.

Through its 25 years of existence, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has developed into an internationally renowned ensemble that is at home at the most prestigious concert halls and festivals, such as the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. The orchestra has shared the stage with internationally sought-after soloists, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, and Martha Argerich, who have since been named honorary members.

In addition to these appearances, one of the orchestra’s central goals is to perform in the members’ home countries. Concerts in Rabat, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, as well as a historic concert in Ramallah, Palestine, have been important steps towards fulfilling this aspiration. Other emblematic performances have included the farewell concert in honor of then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the UN General Assembly Hall in 2006, as well as a concert at the border between North and South Korea in 2011.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Daniel Barenboim a UN Messenger of Peace in September 2007 and designated the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra a UN Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding in February 2016. The orchestra has been represented in the media through several international TV broadcasts and a number of highly acclaimed CDs and DVDs, including award-winning documentaries.

The work of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra eventually paved the way for the founding of the Barenboim-Said Akademie and the affiliated concert hall, the Pierre Boulez Saal, in Berlin. Regular teaching activities for up to 90 students began in the fall of 2016 with a four-year bachelor program, in which the humanities and music as a shared and collectively reflected experience receive a stronger focus than is common in professional music education. The Akademie is committed to the pedagogical spirit of Edward W. Said and Daniel Barenboim and their joint attempt to overcome ideological divides.

Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta was born in 1936 in Bombay and received his first musical education under his father’s Mehli Mehta’s guidance who was a noted concert violinist and the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of pre-medical studies in Bombay, he left for Vienna in 1954 where he eventually entered the conducting programme under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie für Musik. Zubin Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958 and was also a prize-winner of the summer academy at Tanglewood. By 1961 he had already conducted the Vienna, Berlin and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras and has recently celebrated 50 years of musical collaboration with all three ensembles.

Zubin Mehta was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1961 to 1967 and also assumed the Music Directorship of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1962, a post he retained until 1978. In October 2019 he celebrated his farewell with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to which he has served for 50 years. On this occasion he was named Music Director Emeritus of the IPO. In 1978 he took over the post as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic commencing a tenure lasting 13 years, the longest in the orchestra's history. From 1985 to 2017 he has been chief conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.

Zubin Mehta made his debut as an opera conductor with Tosca in Montreal in 1963. Since then he has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala Milano, and the opera houses of Chicago and Florence as well as at the Salzburg Festival. Between 1998 and 2006 he was Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. In October 2006 he opened the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia and was the President of the annual Festival del Mediterrani in Valencia until June 2014 where he conducted the celebrated Ring cycle with the Fura del Baus in coproduction with the Florence opera house. Other Ring cycles were completed at the Chicago Opera and the Bavarian State Opera.

Zubin Mehta's list of awards and honours is extensive and includes the "Nikisch-Ring" bequeathed to him by Karl Böhm. He is an honorary citizen of both Florence and Tel Aviv and was made an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera in 1997, of the Bavarian State Opera in 2006 and of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien in 2007. The title of “Honorary Conductor” was bestowed to him by the following orchestras: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (2001), Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (2004), Los Angeles Philharmonic (2006), Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (2006), Staatskapelle Berlin (2014) and Bavarian State Orchestra (2006), with whom he performed in Srinagar, Kashmir in September 2013. In 2016 the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples appointed Zubin Mehta as Honorary Music Director and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic honoured him in 2019 as Conductor Emeritus. In February 2019 the Berlin Philharmonic appointed him their Honorary Conductor. A particular honor was made to him in 2022 when the new concert hall of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence was named after him.

In October 2008 Zubin Mehta was honoured by the Japanese Imperial Family with the “Praemium Imperiale”. In March 2011 Zubin Mehta received a special distinction, in getting a star on the Hollywood Boulevard. The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany was bestowed to him in July 2012. The Indian Government honoured him in September 2013 with the “Tagore Award for cultural harmony” which a year earlier was awarded to Ravi Shankar. The Australian Government named him Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 2022.

Zubin Mehta continues to support the discovery and furtherance of musical talents all over the world. Together with his brother Zarin he is a co-chairman of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation in Bombay where more than 200 children are educated in Western Classical Music. The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv develops young talent in Israel and is closely related to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, as is a new project of teaching young Arab Israelis in the cities of Shwaram and Nazareth with local teachers and members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Clara-Jumi Kang
Violin

Born to Korean parents and raised in Germany, Clara-Jumi Kang is internationally renowned for her musicality and virtuosity. Throughout her career she has received many awards and accolades including 1st prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Sendai Violin Competition and the Seoul Violin Competition.

Upcoming highlights include festival appearances at the BBC Proms, returning following her debut in 2022 to perform the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante alongside Timothy Ridout, at the Hollywood Bowl alongside the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the second consecutive season, as well as her debut at the Salzburg Festival under Andrew Manze.

Later in the season she returns to the Israel Philharmonic for the third time since her debut in September 2023, to the Seoul Philharmonic for concerts in Lotte Concert Hall as well as on their domestic tour alongside Music Director Jaap van Zweden, before debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Ottawa, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. She will also perform a recital tour across Korea, culminating at Seoul Arts Center, and make her recital debuts at the Boulez Saal in Berlin and the Hong Kong City Hall, and perform solo recitals in Rome and Torino.

Other recent highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic at the Isarphilharmonie and on tour to Korea alongside Myun-whun Chung, the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Lahav Shani, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony.

Since making her concerto debut with Hamburg Symphony at the age of five, Kang has regularly worked with leading conductors including P Järvi, Xavier-Roth, Denève, V Petrenko, Yamada, Ollikainen, Bancroft, Mena, Shani, T Fischer, Dutoit, Reif, Bihlmaier, Edusei and Long Yu. She was selected as one of the top 100 “Most promising and influential people of Korea” in 2012 by major Korean newspaper Dong-A Times and was awarded the Daewon Music Award (2012) for her outstanding international achievements as well as Kumho Musician of the Year (2015).

Clara-Jumi Kang has made two recordings for Decca: “Modern Solo” featuring works including Ernst’s “Last Rose”, Schubert’s “Erlkönig”, and Ysaÿe Sonatas, and a Brahms/Schumann album with Yeol-Eum Son. Her cycle of Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim was released on Accentus last season to outstanding reviews and nominations. A devoted chamber musician, she regularly visits chamber music festivals and collaborates with renowned musicians including Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer and Mischa Maisky.

Born in Germany to a musical family, Clara-Jumi Kang took up the violin at the age of three and a year later enrolled as the youngest ever student at the Mannheim Musikhochschule. She went on to study with Zakhar Bron at the Lübeck Musikhochschule and at the age of seven was awarded a full scholarship to the Julliard School to study with Dorothy Delay. Having received musical guidance from Barenboim starting from the age of 11, she was then invited to perform with him and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra aged 12. She took her Bachelor and Masters degrees at the Korean National University of Arts under Nam-Yun Kim before completing her studies at the Munich Musikhochschule with Christoph Poppen.

Clara-Jumi Kang plays on the 1702 "Thunis" Stradivarius.