Founded in 1999, the orchestra’s origins lie in the conversations between its creators, Edward W. Said and Daniel Barenboim. Over the course of their friendship, the Palestinian author-scholar and Israeli conductor-pianist discussed ideas on music, culture and humanity.
“Teaching music as a language opens minds, leading to the generation of new ideas in society. It also allows people to get to know each other,” she added. UN Photo/Mark Garten Mariam Said, widow of Edward W. Said, is a vice president of the US-based Barenboim-Said Foundation. “We have musicians that come from countries that are in conflict with each other in one way or another. We show that by cooperating in a project such as this one, it’s possible to bring together people from states which are in conflict so that they’re able to work together towards a common goal,” said Michael Barenboim.
Speaking ahead of the concert Maher Nasser, the Director of the Outreach Division in the UN Department of Global Communications said: “When you look a group of eight musicians playing together and they are all reading from the same sheet of paper, they introduce harmony, and they are all equal. Some of them play cello and some of them are playing violin but the sound that comes out appears to be coming from one instrument. Every one of them is equal, every note is equal.”