Daniel Barenboim is launching a new festival: from November 11 to 18, 2026, the West-Eastern Divan Festival will take place in Berlin for the first time. In ten concerts at venues throughout the city, the festival will bring together international musicians and showcase the diverse work of the institutions connected to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Berlin’s cultural landscape.

In the summer of 1999, Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said invited young musicians from Israel and Palestine to Weimar, then the European Capital of Culture. What was intended as a single workshop has become a fixture of the international music scene: for more than 25 years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has brought its message of dialogue and understanding to countries around the world. Over time, the foundational idea kept expanding and taking on new identities. The Daniel Barenboim Stiftung in Berlin and the Fundación Barenboim-Said in Seville have since been joined by the Barenboim-Said Center for Music in Ramallah, Berlin’s Barenboim-Said Akademie, and the Pierre Boulez Saal, which opened in 2017.

CThis year’s inaugural West-Eastern Divan Festival brings all of these institutions together—and makes them part of the diverse cultural landscape of Berlin. The festival opens with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Philharmonie Berlin; for a second performance later in the week, the orchestra will be joined by renowned pianist Lang Lang. Further concerts will feature internationally acclaimed artists who have been closely connected to the various projects for many years, including Naseer Shamma, Emmanuel Pahud, the Boulez Ensemble, Kathleen Tagg, and David Krakauer. Students from the Barenboim-Said Akademie, the Fundación Barenboim-Said in Seville, and the Barenboim-Said Center for Music in Ramallah will also perform. The festival will take place at three distinct Berlin venues, including the Philharmonie Berlin, the Pierre Boulez Saal, and Berghain.