Beethoven-Haus honors Daniel Barenboim

The Beethoven-Haus Society is recognizing pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim with an honorary membership for his life’s work and his efforts to perform and promote the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, the organization’s Board of Directors announced today. 

Beethoven has been a key influence on Barenboim, under whose baton the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has focused on the composer’s nine symphonies, among other works. Barenboim has intensively engaged with Beethoven’s music since 2010, resulting in numerous concert tours and Beethoven for All, a comprehensive series of recordings that, in addition to the symphonies, includes the piano concertos and sonatas, with Barenboim himself at the piano. 

The Beethoven-Haus Society is honoring the Argentinean-Israeli artist for a lifetime of musical achievement and his ongoing commitment to making Beethoven known to a wider audience. “People have become much more aware of Beethoven’s work, and Daniel Barenboim has played a critical role in this development. His courageous efforts, especially with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, have been internationally acclaimed,” said Kurt Masur, chairman of the Bonn-based society’s Board of Directors. Barenboim will be presented with his certificate of membership in 2013.

“I am very honored, since Beethoven has been a key part of my musical life since I was a child,” Barenboim said in response to the announcement. “For many people over the centuries he has become a symbol for music itself, even if they might not be all that familiar with classical music. We’re very fortunate that the Beethoven-Haus Society exists and I am extremely pleased at having been chosen to receive its honorary membership.” 

The artistic and music director of the Staatsoper Under den Linden in Berlin, Barenboim is one of the outstanding musicians of our time and has been a key figure in the international concert scene for more than 50 years. Through his untiring efforts he has called attention to the social importance of classical music. Together with Palestinian literary critic Edward Said, he founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 1999, an ensemble made up of Israeli and Arab musicians. By establishing the orchestra he made a much-admired sociopolitical statement about music’s ability to bring people together. 

Since its founding in 1889, the Beethoven-Haus Society has bestowed honorary memberships on numerous outstanding figures from the world of music. Among the first were Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann und Giuseppe Verdi. In recent years, honorees have included Rudolf Buchbinder, Anne-Sophie Mutter, György Kurtág and András Schiff.

The Beethoven-Haus Society has more than 900 members in 20 countries. With its museum, Digital Beethoven House, research institute, chamber music hall, publishing house and the world’s most diverse collection of Beethoven artifacts, the society is a unique ensemble of resources and a cultural institution of international importance. Each year it welcomes some 100,000 visitors of all ages and nationalities. Its supporters include public-sector institutions such as the German government’s federal commissioner for culture and the media, the state of North Rhine–Westphalia, the City of Bonn and the regional association Landschaftsverband Rheinland, as well as private patrons from Germany and numerous other countries around the globe.


Contact:
Ursula Timmer-Fontani
Leitung Kommunikation
ursula.timmer-fontani@beethoven-haus-bonn.de
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Fax 0228 98175-24

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