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From the Klavierfestival Ruhr in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Germany. Performers: Daniel Barenboim (soloist and conductor) and Staatskapelle Berlin. Subscribe to EuroArts: Watch all excerpts from the Beethoven Piano Concertos performed by Daniel Barenboim: In time for his 65th birthday in 2007, Daniel Barenboim has completed a cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos. Recorded live at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr in May 2007, this recording reflects both a very individual and special reading of Beethoven’s music and the artist’s life-long dedication to the composer. Daniel Barenboim is one of the most prolific and high-profile artists performing on international stages today and Beethoven’s masterpieces have been a key part of his repertoire throughout his career, both as a conductor and as a pianist. Beethoven himself was a keyboard virtuoso of almost awesome abilities who created a sensation wherever he played. It is no wonder, therefore, that the piano was central to Beethoven’s overall output. Daniel Barenboim, artistic personality and former wunderkind, long an essential part of the international musical scene both on the conductor’s podium and at the piano, is the perfect match for this demanding music. Conducting and playing at the same time, Barenboim chose his orchestra of almost two decades, the Staatskapelle Berlin, which he has praised warmly for its exceptional, dark and warm sound. With a tradition reaching back to 1570, the Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. About Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942. He took his first piano lessons at the age of five, and was first taught by his mother. Later, he studied under his father, who would remain his only piano teacher. He gave his first public concert when he was seven. In 1952, he moved with his parents to Israel. At age ten, Daniel Barenboim gave his international début performance as a solo pianist in Vienna and Rome; Paris (1955), London (1956) and New York (1957) then followed, where he played with Leopold Stokowski. Since then, he has regularly toured Europa and the United States, as well as South America, Australia and the Far East. In 1954 Daniel Barenboim began his recording career as a pianist. In the 1960s he recorded Beethoven's piano concertos with Otto Klemperer, Brahms piano concertos with Sir John Barbirolli and all the Mozart piano concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra, this time serving both as pianist and conductor. Ever since his conducting debut in 1967 in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim has been in great demand with leading orchestras around the world. Between 1975 and 1989 he was the chief conductor of the Orchestre da Paris, where he often programmed contemporary works by composers such as Lutostawski, Beria, Boulez, Henze, Dutilleux and Takemitsu. Daniel Barenboim gave his début as an opera conductor at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973 with Mozart's Don Giovanni. In 1981 he conducted for the first time in Bayreuth, where he would conduct every summer for eighteen years, until 1999. From 1991 until June 2006, Daniel Barenboim was Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The musicians of the orchestra have since named him Honorary Conductor for Life. In 1992, he became General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where he was also Artistic Director from 1992 to August 2002. In 2000 the Staatskapelle Berlin voted him Chief Conductor tor Life. #EuroartsBarenboim
