The Government awards the Argentine conductor Daniel Barenboim the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit

The Government has awarded the Argentine conductor, pianist and philanthropist Daniel Barenboim the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit, in response to his “merits and circumstances”, and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers.

This was stated in the Official State Gazette (BOE) this Wednesday morning in a royal decree, signed by King Felipe VI, and following the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation headed by José Manuel Albares.

“In response to the merits and circumstances of Mr. Daniel Barenboim, at the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on January 14, 2025, I come to grant him the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit”, reads the official newspaper.

Born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on November 15, 1942 as the son of two Jewish piano teachers of Russian origin, he moved with his parents to Israel when he was barely ten years old. With four passports – Argentine, Israeli, Palestinian and Spanish – he began to develop his musical career from a very young age.

In the 50s and 60s he traveled around the world and laid the foundations for what would be his second career, that of director. Since 1967 he has been a regular on orchestra podiums in Berlin, New York and Paris. In July 1987 he was appointed artistic director of the Bastille Opera in the French capital, in 1991 he became Georg Solti’s successor at the head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a year later he combined that position with the direction of the Opera Berlin State Opera (Staatsoper).

In 1999, together with the late writer of Palestinian origin Edward Said, he founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a music workshop based in Pilas (Seville) to bring together young people from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Israel, with the purpose of creating music on neutral ground.

Barenboim has received numerous awards in favor of peace, such as the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord (2002), the Tutzing Protestant Academy Tolerance Award (2002) for his efforts to unite Palestinians with Israelis, the medal Buber-Rosenzweig and the Wolf Prize for the Arts in Jerusalem (2004).