Everything Is Connected

Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942, educated in Rome and made his piano debut at the age of eight and as a solo pianist at the age of eleven with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. His musical tours have taken him all over the world and he has made regular appearances at the Bayreuth, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Prague and Salzburg festivals. In 1967 he married the cellist Jacqueline du Pré (who died in 1987). In 1988 he married Elena Bashkirova. He was musical director of the Paris Orchestra 1975-88, and he has been Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991 and of the Berlin State Opera since 1992.

Barenboim's book is at its best when he explains the unique status of music. He describes brilliantly how it works and the way in which its intricacies and logic justify his faith that everything is connected...It establishes him as the most pure-hearted and, therefore, anguished advocate of the lasting importance of art.