Daniel Barenboim is recognised as one of the greatest pianists and conductors alive.
He will conduct a concert performance of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, accompanied by a cast of international singers and the West‑Eastern Divan Orchestra, formed of young Israeli and Arab musicians.
The opera is a passionate protest against political injustice and a hymn of praise to the power of human love.
Sung in German, this performance uses English narration written by the orchestra’s co-founder, the Palestinian academic the late Edward Said.
The engagement between Barenboim and Said began with a chance meeting in a hotel in the early 1990s. Over the next ten years the two developed an intense friendship. The fruits of that relationship can be enjoyed in their book Parallels And Paradoxes.
Saturday 22 August
8.10pm, BBC2
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