Barenboim, Daniel

Barenboim, Daniel (bâr'unboim") [key], 1942–, Israeli pianist and conductor, b. Buenos Aires, Argentina. He made his debut in Buenos Aires at seven. His family settled in Israel in 1952, and he studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Academy and with Nadia Boulanger and others. By the 1960s he was a soloist with leading orchestras worldwide and was acclaimed as one of the most brilliant and versatile pianists of his generation. He is particularly noted for his live and recorded performances of Mozart and Beethoven. During the 1960s he began to devote much of his time to conducting, becoming closely associated with the English Chamber Orchestra; since 1972 he has also conducted opera. Barenboim was guest conductor for a number of orchestras before his controversial appointments as director of the Orchestre de Paris (1975–89) and the Bastille Opera (1987–89). In 1991 he succeeded Georg Solti as music director of the Chicago Symphony, ending his tenure there in 2006. In 1992 he also became artistic director of the German State Opera, Berlin, and in 2006 he announced an association with Milan's La Scala opera house to begin the following year.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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