Maestro seeks to bridge Mideast divide
In an era of heightened polarity and political fractiousness, the premise of a project such as the WestEastern Divan Orchestra can almost feel like a pipe dream. The notion that young musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and Arab countries could join forces to perform the music of Beethoven or Schubert — setting aside national differences in pursuit of a single downbeat or a unified musical phrasing — seems implausible on its face.
Yet the reality says otherwise. For almost 20 years, this ensemble, led by founding conductor Daniel Barenboim, has offered a model of musical discourse as a modest way of bridging a political divide.
At 75, Barenboim is very
much a man of the world, holding multiple citizenships including Argentina (where he was born) and Israel (where he was raised). After an early career as a pianist, he began to concentrate increasingly on conducting. He currently lives in Berlin, where he conducts the State Opera and the Staatskapelle; he has held conducting posts in Chicago, Milan and Paris.
This weekend, Cal Performances brings the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to the Bay Area for the first time with a program of music by Strauss and Tchaikovsky that is part of the orchestra’s U.S. concert tour. Barenboim spoke by phone from Chicago, where the tour began. Q: Let’s go back to the beginning of the project. You originally founded this orchestra together with the late Palestinian American writer and critic Edward Said, correct? A: No, that’s not correct. The legend has it that Edward and I set out to found this orchestra, and the legend is very flattering, but it’s not true.
The idea came about because in 1998, Weimar (Germany) was designated as the European Capital of Culture. Weimar represents the best and worst of Germany — it was home to Goethe, but also it’s just 5 kilometers away from Buchenwald. They wanted me to help create some music programs. Q: How did you respond? A: The director said, “I belong to the generation that feels a sense of responsibility concerning the Holocaust.” I said, “That’s very laudable, and I’ll tell you what we can do. If you want to express a sense of responsibility to the Jewish people, you have to help them with their problems today. And that is the conflict with the Palestinians.”
We decided to do a workshop with Said and about 15 to 20 students, featuring a master class and plenty of intellectual conversation. I said it must not be an Israeli project with alibi Arabs, or vice versa; it must be totally evenhanded. Q: How did you go about finding the young musicians to participate? A: We started with the Arab world, because we didn’t really know either the quality or the quantity of the musical talent. With my Israeli passport, they wouldn’t let me into Syria or Lebanon. So I had an assistant go and hold auditions in Damascus, Beirut, Cairo and Amman.
He reduced the number of participants from 200 to 60, and I reduced it to 35. And that’s when I realized that what we had to do was make an orchestra. Q: What, in your view, was the goal of the undertaking? A: Neither Edward nor I ever had the idea that everyone was supposed to agree. The idea is that each should listen to the other’s narrative. Their curiosity to the other is awakened. Q: How does music help that process? A: Music requires an intellectual understanding. When a Syrian musician sits for the first time with an Israeli on the same music stand, they have to tune their instruments to the same A and play each phrase in the same way.
When you do that for six hours a day, there is an immediate collaboration. Q: Are you optimistic that a project like this can help bring about real change? A: You know, (the philosopher Antonio) Gramsci was asked in the 1930s, as Mussolini was coming to power, whether he was optimistic or pessimistic about the future, and he gave a wonderful reply. He said, intellectually I am a pessimist — I can read and I know what is happening. But emotionally I am an optimist.
Right now, this is the most important thing I do. These musicians have the possibility to make music at the very highest level, with a strong sense of humanity.
This is not a political project. It never was. It’s a humanistic project.