The West-Eastern Divan is a youth orchestra based in Sevilla, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Spanish background. The Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

 and the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said

Edward Said

Edward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...

 founded the orchestra in 1999, and named the ensemble after an anthology of poems

West-östlicher Diwan

West-östlicher Diwan or West-östlicher Divan or West-Eastern Divan is a diwan, or collection of lyrical poems by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The work was inspired by the Persian poet Hafez....

 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

. The first orchestra workshop was in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, Germany, in 1999, after the organisation had received over 200 applications from Arab music students. Daniel Barenboim has also expressed interest in musicians from Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 (a non-Arab country but in conflict with Israel) and three Iranian musicians are to play in the Orchestra each year.

The aim of the West-Eastern Divan is to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and pave the way for a peaceful and fair solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Barenboim himself has spoken of the ensemble as follows:

"The Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story. It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace. 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. I'm not trying to convert the Arab members of the Divan to the Israeli point of view, and [I'm] not trying to convince the Israelis to the Arab point of view.

But I want to - and unfortunately I am alone in this now that Edward died a few years ago - ...create a platform where the two sides can disagree and not resort to knives."

One of the young musicians of the orchestra reinforced this point:

"Barenboim is always saying his project is not political. But one of the really great things is that this is a political statement by both sides. It is more important not for people like myself, but for people to see that it is possible to sit down with Arab people and play. The orchestra is a human laboratory that can express to the whole world how to cope with the other."

The orchestra has performed around the world, including Israel and the Palestinian territories. It has an annual summer school in Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

. Since 2002, the Junta de Andalucía (Regional Government of Andalusia) and a private foundation have provided a base for the ensemble in Seville, Spain. Young musicians from Spain now also take part in the orchestra.

The West-Eastern Divan Workshop takes place during several weeks each summer in Andalucia. Once the working period is over, the concert tour of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra starts. The orchestra has been awarded several prizes since its creation, among them the Prize Príncipe de Asturias of the Concorde in 2002 for Said and Barenboim, and the Premium Imperiale awarded by the Japan Arts Association.

In 2004, the Barenboim-Said Foundation, based in Seville and financed by the Junta de Andalucía (Regional Government of Andalusia), was established with the purpose of developing several education through music projects based on the principles of coexistence and dialogue promoted by Said and Barenboim. In addition to managing the orchestra, the Barenboim-Said Foundation assists with other projects such as the Academy of Orchestral Studies, the Musical Education in Palestine project and the Early Childhood Musical Education Project in Seville.

A film by Paul Smaczny about the orchestra, Knowledge is the Beginning, won the Emmy Award for best documentary related to arts of 2006. In 2007, the orchestra received the Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists

Praemium Imperiale

The Praemium Imperiale is an arts prize awarded since 1989 by the imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film...

. It has recorded for the Teldec label. The current concertmaster is Michael Barenboim, the son of Daniel Barenboim.

External links

• Warner Classics page on the orchestra
• Brown University page about the orchestra
• The Ticket Documentary from the BBC World Service in which Daniel Barenboim talks about the importance of his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
• 33rd Cleveland Film Festival page on Knowledge is the Beginning
• Barenboim interviewed by Al Jazeera about the orchestra on its 10th anniversary