The 83-year-old conductor, who revealed last year that he has Parkinson’s disease, will lead four concerts in Germany and Switzerland, joined by Yo-Yo Ma and Clara-Jumi Kang.
Daniel Barenboim will return to the podium with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for a four-concert European summer tour beginning on August 10, continuing his work with the ensemble despite the health problems that have substantially reduced his performing schedule in recent years.
The tour opens at the Rheingau Musik Festival in Wiesbaden on August 10 and continues at Berlin’s Waldbühne on August 13, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Kiel on August 15, and the Lucerne Festival on August 17. Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang will join Barenboim and the orchestra for the opening concert, while Yo-Yo Ma will be the soloist for the remaining three dates.
The appearances carry particular significance for Barenboim, who announced in February 2025 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. His health had already forced him to curtail his activities from 2022 and to step down as General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin in January 2023.
When disclosing his diagnosis, however, Barenboim made clear that the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra would remain at the centre of his musical life.
“As ever, I consider the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra my most important responsibility,” he said, adding that he would continue conducting the ensemble “whenever my health allows me to.”
The August tour puts that commitment into practice.
Beethoven, Dvořák and Schumann
At the opening concert in Wiesbaden, Clara-Jumi Kang will perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, followed by Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, the “Rhenish”. The Schumann replaces Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, which had originally been announced for the concert.
Yo-Yo Ma then joins the orchestra for the remaining dates, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto alongside the same Schumann symphony. Ma has a particularly long association with the Divan: he participated in its founding workshop in Weimar in 1999 and is an honorary member of the orchestra.
The Berlin appearance will take place at the Waldbühne, the orchestra’s traditional open-air summer venue, before Barenboim, Ma and the Divan travel to Kiel and conclude the tour at the KKL in Lucerne. The Lucerne Festival concert is already sold out.
A project Barenboim continues to prioritise
Barenboim and Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in 1999, bringing together young musicians from Israel, Palestine and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa. From its beginnings, the project has sought to create a space for dialogue and mutual understanding through music.
That mission has acquired renewed resonance amid the continuing conflict in the Middle East, while the orchestra has also become increasingly central to the final stage of Barenboim’s career.
Following the August concerts, Barenboim is scheduled to reunite with the Divan for another European series in September. The itinerary currently includes Dortmund, El Escorial, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg and Rolle, Switzerland, between September 17 and 28.
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