Music Matters: 25 Years of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

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Music Matters: 25 Years of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Sowing Seeds for an Orchestra

Sowing Seeds for an Orchestra

25 Years of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

BBC Radio 3 - Music Matters, 25 Years of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Sowing Seeds for an Orchestra

Clemency Burton-Hill marks the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra's 25th anniversary.

Clemency Burton-Hill marks the 25th anniversary of this remarkable musical adventure started by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said.

Clemency Burton-Hill marks the anniversary of this remarkable musical adventure.

The West-Eastern Divan is an orchestra where Arab and Israeli young musicians play alongside each other. It was the brainchild of Daniel Barenboim – an Argentinian musician born to Russian, Jewish parents. And Edward Said - a Palestinian, American academic and political activist. A chance encounter in a London hotel lobby led to an intense friendship between these two creative spirits who should have been politically poles apart. Clemency explores how their friendship developed; how the opportunity for the project emerged and how the concept behind the project embodied so much of Edward Said’s teaching and writing. 


Including interviews with Daniel Barenboim, Mariam Said and archive of Barenboim and Edward Said.

Clemency spent several summers touring in the violin section of the Divan.

All orchestral music performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Mozart: Overture "Le nozze di Figaro", K.492 

Chopin: Nocturne No. 5 in F-Sharp Major, Op. 15 No. 2
Soloist: Daniel Barenboim

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, First Movement.

Brahms - Piano Sonata No.2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 2: I. Allegro non troppo ma energico
Soloist: Karim Said

Beethoven: Symphony No 9, Last Movement

Assistant producer: Rosa Gollan
Producer: Rosie Boulton 
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Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Clemency Burton-Hill marks the 25th anniversary of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra - a remarkable musical adventure started by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said in 1999.

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