THE FOUNDATION
Over the years, the orchestra’s artistic reputation and its humanitarian mission have made it a regular guest at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. Many projects in the fields of music, education and international understanding have also flourished around the orchestra.
Since Edward W. Said’s untimely death in 2003, his widow Mariam C. Said has kept the project going with Daniel Barenboim. The Barenboim-Said Foundation (USA) is a 501 (c) (3), non-profit organization, incorporated in April 2004 and based in New York City. Today, the foundation also funds other programs, including a music school in Ramallah, Palestine, and academic workshops in Israel.
THE BOARD
- Daniel Barenboim (President)
- Mariam C. Said (Vice President)
- Ángel Collado Schwarz (Vice President)
- Nazeeh S. Habachy (Treasurer & Secretary)
- Saleem Abboud Ashkar
- Lakhdar Brahimi
- David V. Foster
- Nicole Foster
- Zarin Mehta
- Kareem Roustom
- Wadie E. Said
- Michael Steinberg
DANIEL BARENBOIM
At age eleven, Daniel Barenboim took part in conducting classes in Salzburg under Igor Markevich. In the summer of 1954, he also met Wilhelm Furtwängler and played for him. Furtwängler then wrote, “The eleven-year-old Daniel Barenboim is a phenomenon.” In the following two years, Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.
EDWARD W. SAID
Besides his academic work, he wrote a twice-monthly column for Al-Hayat and Al-Ahram; was a regular contributor to newspapers in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; and was the music critic for The Nation. He served on the editorial board of twenty journals, and was the general editor of a book series, Convergences, at Harvard University Press. He has lectured at over 200 universities in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
MARIAM C. SAID
The WEDO was co-founded in 1999 by her late husband, the literary critic and public intellectual Edward W. Said, and the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.
The Barenboim-Said Foundation (USA) supports a number of music education programs in Palestine and Israel, including the Barenboim-Said Music Centre and the Edward W. Said Music Kindergarten in Ramallah.