On July 15th Daniel Barenboim was awarded the BILD Culture Prize 2000
for outstanding achievement in bringing people together through music.
The ceremony was held at Weimar's historic castle during which speakers
made reference to Barenboim's activities as pianist, musical director
of the Berliner Staatskapelle and Chicago Symphony Orchestras and
frequent conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. In particular attention
was drawn to Barenboim's initiation of the West-Eastern-Divan Workshop
and Orchestra, where music students from Arab countries, Israel and
Germany come together to play music and openly discuss their varied
cultural backgrounds. Press and political luminaries including Johannes
Rau, President of Germany attended the event. All guests were presented
with a Daniel Barenboim CD "My Musical World", a special compilation
created in a collaboration among BILD, Warner Classics & Jazz
Germany and Teldec.