Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1942 into a Russian Jewish family, Daniel Barenboim was a piano prodigy who first made his name in the 1960s as a performer of the classical keyboard repertory. Barenboim's performances of Beethoven's Sonatas became legendary and he was one of the first musicians in the modern era to revive the idea of performing Mozart’s piano concertos without a conductor, directing them instead from the keyboard - as Mozart himself used to do.
Daniel Barenboim released his book, 'La Musica Sveglia il Tempo' (Music Awakens Time) in 2007.
At the very pinnacle of his profession for more than 40 years, Barenboim is renowned for his longstanding relationships with some of the world's finest orchestras - the Chicago Symphony, the Berlin Staatskapelle, and the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where he was artistic director for many years.