Projects

For more than 25 years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has been a significant presence in the international music world. In 1999, Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian literary scholar Edward W. Said created a workshop for young musicians to promote coexistence and intercultural dialogue. They named the orchestra and workshop after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's collection of poems West-Eastern Divan, a central work for the development of the concept of world culture. An equal number of Israeli, Palestinian and Arab musicians form the base of the ensemble, together with members from Turkey, Iran, and Spain. They meet each summer for a workshop, where rehearsals are complemented by lectures and discussions and followed by an international tour.

Based on the notion of equality, co-operation, and justice for all, the orchestra represents an alternative model to the current situation in the Middle East, proving time and again that music can build bridges. In February 2016 it was designated a UN Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding.

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The West-Eastern Divan Ensemble is the most recent imprint of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra's project and brings the highly praised artistry of the orchestra into an intimate chamber-music format. Initiated by Michael Barenboim to mark the orchestra's 20th anniversary in 2019, the ensemble gives audiences an opportunity to experience the musicians' unique artistry and personality up close.

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Since 2016, the state-recognized Barenboim-Said Akademie has been teaching talented young musicians, primarily from the Middle East and North Africa, in the pedagogical spirit of Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim — all within the heart of historic Berlin. In addition to intensive study in music theory and performance, each program also features study in the humanities. Students learn to listen to each other and develop their own ideas within a broad, interdisciplinary, and transcultural educational setting.

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Designed by architect Frank Gehry and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, the Pierre Boulez Saal opened in March 2017. It is part of the Barenboim-Said Akademie and housed in a former set storage building of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. An ellipse-shaped, modular space in which sound and architecture blend in a unique way, the hall offers almost unlimited possibilities to experience music. Under the motto "Music for the Thinking Ear," the program is shaped by the limitless artistic curiosity of the hall's guiding spirit, composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.

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Established in 2012, the Barenboim-Said for Music in Ramallah is a nonprofit organization committed to integrating classical music within the Palestinian community and to strengthening public appreciation of the arts and music through concerts and public events. The Center currently provides a comprehensive musical education for 170 young people, offering three programs: a conservatory, a school and kindergarten program, and orchestral training via membership in the Filasteen Young Musicians Orchestra. Qualified graduates will have the opportunity to enroll at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin.

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Opened on September 5, 2005, the Musikkindergarten Berlin is an independent institution that seeks to implement the concept of "education through music" for preschool children.

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The idea of the Musical School has existed as a pilot project since 2018 at the Berlin Cosmopolitan School, founded in 2004. As an internationally oriented school in which the musical education of over 820 students of 54 different nationalities is centrally anchored, the school has become an important partner for the Daniel Barenboim Stiftung. In 2025 the project was awarded the German School Prize, presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.