In the presence of Sakellaropoulou – Mitsotakis the awarding of the “Theofano” prize to the leading conductor Daniel Barenboim

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The award will be received by his son Michael Barenboim, who continues the vision, who will also deliver the awardee’s speech.

In the presence of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leading pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is awarded the European prize today “Empress Theophano”. The award ceremony – the third in a row since the establishment of the annual award in 2020 – will take place in the afternoon, in the Rotunda.

Daniel Barenboim, a living legend of music, has developed a rich pedagogic and peace-loving activity, with the leading initiative of all the creation of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a classical music orchestra, composed of Israelis and Palestinians, which in 2016 received the title of Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding by the United Nations

The sudden deterioration of Daniel Barenboim’s health, related to a serious neurological condition, as he recently announced in a public announcement, will not allow him to attend and receive the award in person. In his place, the award will be received by his son Michael Barenboim, a continuation of the vision, who will also deliver the awardee’s speech.

Shortly before the ceremony, Michael Barenboim says: “It is a great honor for me and the fellow musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to be in Thessaloniki and receive the Empress Theophano Award on behalf of my father, Daniel Barenboim. It is a special honor for him to receive this award in recognition not only of his work, but also of the dedication and courage of every musician in the orchestra.”

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was created in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim with Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said to foster intercultural dialogue in the Middle East through music and symbiosis.

“In this orchestra, music has always been a starting point for conversation and connection,” notes Samir Obado (violin), and Katrin Spiegel (viola) adds that the orchestra “gives people who come from the Middle East an opportunity to get to know “the other”. It was a safe place to talk about our feelings and understand, even if we didn’t necessarily agree. Everything is done with great respect.”

Peace concerts

One of the central purposes of the orchestra is to perform in the countries from which its members come, with milestone concerts in Rabat, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Palestine, while its emblematic performances were the farewell concert in honor of the then Secretary General of UN Kofi Annan, in the UN General Assembly Hall in 2006, as well as a concert on the South-North Korean border in 2011.

The work of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra paved the way for the establishment of the Barenboim-Said Akademie and the associated concert hall Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. The Akademie is committed to the pedagogical spirit of Barenboim and Said and their shared effort to overcome ideological divisions.

The Theofano prize

Aiming to highlight common European principles and values, historical origins and geographical roots, the “Empress Theofano” award aspires to be a bridge of mutual understanding between the different peoples and cultural characteristics that make up today’s Europe and is awarded annually by the Theofano Foundation of the same name -Theophano Foundation through an evaluation process by the Advisory and Steering Committee of the Foundation.

The chairman of the Advisory Committee is the honorary president of the European Council, Herman Count Van Rompuy and the chairman of the Steering Committee is Stavros Andreadis, chairman of the Cultural Society of Businessmen of Northern Greece.

The event will be moderated by the journalist and director of the “Kathimerini” newspaper, Alexis Papachelas, while it will be broadcast live by ERT3 (18:30).

One day after the awarding of the prize in Thessaloniki, as part of the event, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by the Belgian artist and poet Jan Vanriet, who created the Theofano prize, a work that combines elements of Byzantine Art, opens on Wednesday 12 October at the Museum of Byzantine Culture with those of modernism.

RES-EMP

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