Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim , 1942-, Israeli pianist and conductor, b. Buenos Aires, Argentina. He made his debut in Buenos Aires at seven. His family settled in Israel in 1952, and he studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Academy and with Nadia Boulanger and others. By the 1960s he was a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and was acclaimed as one of the most brilliant and versatile pianists of his generation. He is particularly noted for performances of Mozart and Beethoven. During the 1960s he began to devote much of his time to conducting, becoming closely associated with the English Chamber Orchestra; since 1972 he has also conducted opera. Barenboim was guest conductor for a number of orchestras before his controversial appointments as director of the Orchestre de Paris (1975-89) and the Bastille Opera (1987-89). In 1991 he succeeded Georg Solti as music director of the Chicago Symphony, ending his tenure there in 2006. In 1992 he became artistic director of the German State Opera, Berlin, and in 1999 he was a founder of the Diwan Orchestra, composed of Israelis and Palestinians and other Arabs. Since 2007 he has been principal guest conductor at Milan's La Scala opera house.

Bibliography: See his A Life in Music (1991).

Barenboim, Daniel (1942– ) Israeli pianist and conductor, b. Argentina. An eclectic musician, he performed with many of the world's great orchestras, such as the New York and Berlin Philharmonics, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris. Barenboim succeeded Sir Georg Solti as artistic director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1992– ). In 1967 he married cellist Jacqueline Du Pré.