The pianist and conductor is stepping back from performing, but his example as a musician and as a public figure must never disappear
Daniel Barenboim is more than one of the world’s great musicians. He is also one of the world’s great public figures. In him, the two things unite and are inseparable. He stands in the tradition of Arturo Toscanini, Pablo Casals and Yehudi Menuhin as a classical music giant who is also a thinker and a moral beacon. In modern times, there has been no one to compare with him.
As a pianist, accompanist and conductor, Mr Barenboim has always spoken through his music to the better angels of the world. Yet through his lecturing and writing, through his work in the Middle East, and through his championing of the arts and justice, he has never been afraid to take a stand either. Recently, he has been playing a characteristically determined role helping to lead the arts back to life after the pandemic. And, as the writer Norman Lebrecht points out, he is the only living classical musician who has access to world leaders.
