Daniel Barenboim
one of the outstanding musical figures of our time, was born in Buenos Aires to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. He began piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continued musical studies with his father, and gave his first official concert in Buenos Aires when he was seven. In 1952, the family moved to Israel, and two years later his parents took Daniel to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevitch’s conducting classes. Following his debut in Vienna and Rome in 1952, he soon became known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. Always active as a chamber musician, he performed most frequently with his late wife, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, and violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. In song recitals, he has accompanied such artists as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dame Janet Baker, Thomas Quasthoff, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón.

From the mid-1960s, Barenboim began to devote more time to conducting. From 1975 to 1989 he was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. He made his opera debut in 1973 at the Edinburgh Festival and his Bayreuth Festival debut in 1981. In 1991, he succeeded Solti as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony and in 2006 was named “honorary conductor for life”. In 1992, he became General Music Director of Berlin’s Deutsche Staatsoper and in 2000, the Berlin Staatskapelle appointed him “chief conductor for life”. In 2006 he began a close relationship with La Scala and served as Music Director from 2007 to 2014. He also appears regularly with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker.

In 1999, together with the late Palestinian-born writer and Columbia University professor Edward Said, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan workshop and orchestra, bringing together talented young musicians from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Israel to make music under the guidance of some of the world’s finest musicians.

A prolific, prize-winning recording artist since making his first recordings for Philips in 1954, Daniel Barenboim began his close association with Deutsche Grammophon in 1972. His vast discography on the Yellow Label features the artist as conductor of orchestral works and operas, and as pianist in chamber music, song recitals and solo repertoire. In 2010, he signed a wide-ranging new contract with Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics.

Michael Barenboim
lets music, in its diverse and enduring ways, speak for itself through his violin.His performances are praised by the critics as “stunning”, “exciting, “utterly persuasive and breathtaking”.

Committed to the core classical and romantic repertoire, he is deeply invested and specially recognized for his performances of the 20th century and contemporary repertoire. Barenboim celebrates a long history of collaboration with the late Pierre Boulez, whose pieces he regularly performs in recital and with the Boulez Ensemble. He has recorded both Boulez’s Anthèmes 1 & 2 on Accentus Music. His second solo recording, presenting works by Sciarrino, Tartini, Berio and Paganini, was released in January 2018 and hailed by the critics as “visionary programming” (BBC Music Magazine), “breathtakingly compelling, and one that’s full of brilliant revelations” (The Strad).

Recent highlights included Michael Barenboim’s debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, performing Schönberg’s Violin Concerto under the baton of V. Petrenko. This followed other successful debuts playing this particular concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under D. Barenboim, Chicago Symphony under A. Fisch, and Israel Philharmonic under Z. Mehta.

He also returned to the Israel Philharmonic for a tour under G. Noseda, performing Bruch and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos, appeared at the Enescu Festival with the Philharmonia Orchestra, performing Prokofiev Violin Concerto No.1, and with the BBC Philharmonic performing Berg Violin Concerto.

The 18/19 season brings debuts with Los Angeles Philharmonic under G. Dudamel, performing Mozart Violin Concerto No.1, with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Robert Trevino playing Berg Violin Concerto, and with San Diego Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Orquestra de Minas Gerais and Tenerife Symphony, performing Glazunov Violin Concerto. Barenboim will perform J. Widmann’s Insel der Sirenen for violin solo and strings orchestra for the first time at the Boulez Saal, and premiere Kareem Roustom’s Violin Concerto No.1 under Lahav Shani.

He will also appear in solo recital at the Paris Philharmonie, Boulez Saal, Gulbenkian Auditorium, Monteverdi Festival, Rosengarten Manheim and Cal Performances in Berkeley. Additionally he will tour in Europe with the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, and will join his father Daniel Barenboim and the cellist Kian Soltani in a newly formed Piano Trio, performing the complete Mozart and Beethoven Piano Trios at the Salzburg Festival and the Boulez Saal.

Past seasons have seen Michael debut with the Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Academia Santa Cecilia, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Filarmonica della Scala, Tonhalle-Orchester, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony and Boulez Ensemble among others.

As a recitalist Michael has appeared at such venues as the Royal Albert Hall (PROMS), Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Boulez Saal, Melbourne Recital Centre and Sydney Opera, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Kumho Art Hall.

Michael is a founding member of the Erlenbusch Quartet and frequently invited at such festivals as the Lucerne Festival, Verbier, Salzburg, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Aix en Provence, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Granada, and Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival. He collaborates regularly with his mother, the pianist Elena Bashkirova, as well as with such artists as Franz Helmerson, Julian Steckel, Guy Braunstein, Denis Kozhukhin, Andras Schiff and Martha Argerich, among others.

Parallel to his solo concert and recital performances, Barenboim also serves as concertmaster of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and cultivates a continuous and strong involvement in educational activities. He is Head of Chamber Music in the newly founded Barenboim-Said Academy and gives master classes around the world.

Kian Soltani
Hailed by The Times as a “remarkable cellist” and described by Gramophone as “sheer perfection”, Kian Soltani’s playing is characterised by a depth of expression, sense of individuality and technical mastery, alongside a charismatic stage presence and ability to create an immediate emotional connection with his audience. He is now invited by the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and recital promoters, propelling him from rising star to one of the most talked about cellists performing today.

In 2019/20 Soltani makes debuts with orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Hallé, KBS Symphony and Orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Beijing. Recent orchestral highlights include the Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Berlin Staatskapelle, Boston Symphony and Tonhalle Orchestras. In 2019, he is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Artist in Residence and commences a multi-year residency with Junge Wilde at Konzerthaus Dortmund from Autumn 2018.

As a recitalist, Soltani has recently performed at Carnegie Hall, Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, Wigmore Hall and the Boulez Saal, where he will return to curate an evening of cello music in spring 2020. In 2018/19 Soltani performed at venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Barbican Centre, Cologne Philharmonie and Stockholm Concert Hall as part of the ECHO Rising Stars scheme.

In 2017, Soltani signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and his first disc ‘Home’, comprising works for cello and piano by Schubert, Schumann and Reza Vali, was released to international acclaim in February 2018, with Gramophone describing the recording as “sublime”. His recording of the Mozart Piano Quartets with Daniel and Michael Barenboim and Yulia Deyneka was released in August 2018. In April 2019, Warner Classics released a disc of the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky Piano Trios with Lahav Shani and Renaud Capucon, recorded live at Aix Easter Festival in 2018. Soltani’s next disc for Deutsche Grammophon is scheduled for release in late 2019.

Soltani made his international breakthrough at the age of nineteen with acclaimed debuts in the Vienna Musikverein’s Goldener Saal and at the Hohenems Schubertiade. He attracted further worldwide attention in April 2013 as winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki where he was hailed by Ostinato magazine as “a soloist of the highest level among the new generation of cellists”. In February 2017 Soltani won Germany’s celebrated Leonard Bernstein Award and in December 2017, he was awarded the prestigious Credit Suisse Young Artist Award.

Born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1992 to a family of Persian musicians, Soltani began playing the cello at aged four and was only twelve when he joined Ivan Monighetti’s class at the Basel Music Academy. He was chosen as an Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship holder in 2014, and completed his further studies as a member of the Young Soloist Programme at Germany’s Kronberg Academy. He received additional important musical training at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein.

Soltani plays on the “London ex Boccherini 1694” Stradivarius, thanks to a generous loan.