Barenboim forced to lay down baton

Celebrated conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim discloses a neurological condition.

Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin during concerts at the Sydney Opera House in 2018. Picture: Peter Adamik

One of the most compelling and gilded musical careers appears to be drawing to a close after celebrated conductor Daniel Barenboim disclosed that he had a “serious neurological condition”.

Barenboim, a child piano prodigy who received five-star reviews just weeks ago for his Wagner operas, said he was in poor health minutes after receiving a lifetime achievement honour at the Gramophone Awards.

The 79-year-old maestro said in a statement that his health had “deteriorated over the last months and I have been diagnosed with a serious neurological condition”. He said he would be focusing on his “physical wellbeing as much as possible” and stepping back from some performances, particularly conducting, in the coming months.

Barenboim is the highly acclaimed director of the renowned Berlin State Opera and has been a driving force in Paris, Milan, Chicago and London.

Perhaps his standout achievement, however, was the creation – against much opposition – of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Edward Said. The group based in Seville, Spain, brings together young Israelis and Arabs.

Barenboim is also known for his marriage to Jacqueline du Pre, the British cellist he married in 1967 and remained with after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which brought about her retirement in the 1970s. She died in 1987, aged 42. The pair were the classical music world’s most glamorous couple in the 1960s.

The conductor has appeared in poor health in recent months. He pulled out of conducting a recent production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in Berlin, which he directed and which received rave reviews. But his statement still came as a surprise. On the announcement of his award, Gramophone said that, as he entered his ninth decade, “the Argentine-born pianist and conductor is showing few signs of slowing down”. At 8pm that day Barenboim posted on Twitter, with a “combination of pride and sadness ... I announce today that I am taking a step back from some of my performing activities, especially conducting engagements, for the coming months ... Music has always been and continues to be an essential and lasting part of my life. I have lived all my life in and through music and I will continue to do so as long as my health allows me to.

“Looking back and ahead, I am not only content but deeply fulfilled.”

Barenboim, whose Jewish parents moved from Argentina to Israel in 1952 when he was 10, began piano lessons at five. By the age of 17 he had given a complete cycle of all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. He made his debut as a conductor in London in 1966 and remained in high demand around the world.

His reputation took a hit three years ago when he was accused of historic allegations of bullying members of the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra. He told The Times in 2020 the accusations were “somewhere between untrue and exaggerated”. “I certainly think that today there is less acceptance in orchestras of the kind of authority that has to be there to get the best results. You can’t hold votes on what tempo the music should go. Someone has to take charge.”

A series of his contemporaries delivered tributes to him. Simon Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra’s outgoing music director, said Barenboim was the “personification of lifetime achievement”.

He said: “I can’t think of any classical musician who has not been influenced, inspired or learnt from Daniel.”

The Times