2014 Summer Workshop & Tour highlighted by Buenos Aires residency, European tour, and world premieres

The musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will come together this August for their annual workshop & summer concerts: a residency at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, a tour to major music festivals in Europe, Wagner’s

in concert (Act II and

), and the world premiere performances of two new works by Syrian-born composer Kareem Roustom and Israeli composer Ayal Adler. Founded in 1999 by pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Palestinian author/scholar Edward Said, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is comprised of musicians from Palestine, Israel, and other Arab countries - as well as musicians from Spain and Germany.

In joining together to perform, the orchestra reaffirms its commitment to promote mutual understanding, non-violence, and reconciliation through music.

The Divan’s Teatro Colón residency opens August 3 with a concert performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the esteemed Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich led by the orchestra’s co-founder Daniel Barenboim. The inaugural program features works by Maurice Ravel, whose music the Divan performs in concert in Buenos Aires (August 11 & 13), at the Lucerne Festival (August 18), Salzburg Festival (August 22), and the Waldbühne, Berlin (August 24). As part of the orchestra’s residency, Martha Argerich joins the orchestra on August 9 for a unique concert that includes Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat and Saint-Saëns' Le Carnaval des animaux, in collaboration with the comedy troupe Les Luthiers. The residency will also include a public symposium, with details forthcoming.

In addition, the West-Eastern Divan premieres two new commissions by Syrian-born composer Kareem Roustom and Israeli composer Ayal Adler. The world premieres take place August 11 & 13 at the Teatro Colón. The Orchestra will also premiere Roustom's and Adler’s new work at the Lucerne Festival on August 17, and at the Salzburg Festival on August 22.

Throughout their summer tour, the Divan performs the Second Act and Liebestod to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in concert with a cast of operatic luminaries who include Peter Seiffert, Waltraud Meier, Ekaterina Gubanova, René Pape, and Stephan Rugämer (Salzburg). Performances take place August 4, 6, 10 & 12 in Buenos Aires, August 17 in Lucerne, and August 21 in Salzburg.

In keeping with their annual tradition, the orchestra’s summer activities culminate with their annual Waldbühnenkonzert, taking place this year on August 24. The orchestra’s co-founder Daniel Barenboim conducts and plays in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major, KV 595 and also leads the Divan in Ravel’s

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