West-Eastern Divan Ensemble, Photo by Peter Adamik.
Violinist and Music Director Michael Barenboim teams with the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble of Middle Eastern musicians from Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria in a show of strength of creating harmony through chamber music.
Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble will perform two South Florida chamber music concerts, Sunday, February 23 at 8 p.m. at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach and on Monday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 pm at the Arsht Center in Miami as par of its Knight Masterpiece Classical Music series.
The West-Eastern Divan Ensemble of Chamber Music performers is an offshoot of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra created 20 years ago by Music Director Daniel Barenboim ,a Jewish musician who is the father of Michael Barenboim) and Edward Said, a Palestinian musical scholar in 1999.
“My father and Edward Saud shared the idea to offer an alternative model of thought for the Middle Eastern region, not based on conflict, ignorance and violence, but on dialogue, understanding and acceptance of the other. Since 1999, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has become a major orchestra and tours around the world,” said Michael Barenboim.
Barenboim is enthused that the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble of Chamber Musicians was recently formed and is currently on its first world tour.
“The West-Eastern Divan Ensemble promotes the same ideas as our orchestra, but in a more intimate chamber (music) setting, giving the audience the chance to experience our musicians in a more exposed way.”
Michael Barenboim, Photo by Marcus Hohn.
A major highlight of the Arsht Center concert will be the South Florida premiere of “Jawb” by composer Benjamin Attahir that was specifically written by Attahir to be commissioned by the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble
“Attahir’s piece ‘Jawb”, meaning path or crossing, manages to have a recognizable development of musical ideas without using means of recapitulation or repetition. So, the musical material, while always new, feels at the same time familiar. It has been a great pleasure to work on this composition, especially since Benjamin Attahir came and worked through the piece with us,” said Barenboim.
Also to be performed in concert will be “String Sextet No. 1 in B Flat Major Op. 18” by Brahman, “Octet In E Flat Major, Op.20” by Mendelssohn ; “Rondo In A Major” by Schubert for solo violin and string quartet, and “Devil’s Trill Sonata in G Minor” by Tartini for solo violin.
“We’re playing Mendelssohn”s string octet and have included Brahms first string sextet as two of the most important pieces in the repertoire. Our repertoire sheds a light on many centuries of music for strings,” said Barenboim.
“The West-Eastern Divan has been building bridges for 20 years through heroic idealism and impeccable musicianship and their program here will be a high point of the season,” said Liz Wallace, Vice President Of Programming for the Arsht Center.
Violinist and Music Director Michael Barenboim will conduct and perform with the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble in two South Florida concerts, February 23 at 8 pm at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach and on February 24 at 7:30 pm at the Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami.
Both South Florida concerts will feature “String Sextet No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 18” by Brahms, “Octet in E Flat Major Op. 20” by Mendelssohn, “Rondo In A Major” by Schubert and “Devil’s Trill Sonata In G Minor” by Tartini.
The Arsht Center concert will also include the South Florida premiere of “Jawb” by Benjamin Attahir and will have a pre-concert lecture on the concert at 6:30 by Dr. Melissa Lesniak, Professor of Music at the University Of Miami.
Tickets at the Arsht Center concert range from $50-$135 and can be purchased online at arshtcenter.org or by calling 305-949-6733.
Tickets at the Kravis Center concert range from $25-$69 and can be purchased online at Kravis.org or by calling 561-832-7469
