School for the Ear – West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

The idea of uniting young musicians from Israel, Palestine and various Arab countries into a musical ensemble still seems incredible today. Yet such an orchestra has been flourishing since 1999, when Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. At the 2007 Salzburg Festival, during the orchestras residency, Daniel Barenboim led a musical workshop called ‘School for the Ear.’ In the first part, Barenboim explores the phenomenon of sound and the importance of the human ear. The second part features the fiery 24-year-old conductor Robin Ticciati in a rehearsal of Beethoven’s third Leonore Overture punctuated by the Maestro’s insightful comments and heated discussions with the young conductor. In the third part the great composer and conductor Pierre Boulez rehearses Béla Bartók’s rarely played ‘Four Orchestral Pieces,’ answering questions from the audience and the musicians.