The Utopia Experiment

Composer says school, which will take in 90 new talents from the region each year, is “attempt at creating peace through music” Daniel Barenboim has called it an “experiment in utopia”, a project that marks the culmination of the leading musician and conductor’s life’s work in bringing together musicians from the Middle East. The Barenboim-Said Akademie, which opened on Thursday evening in Berlin, will offer 90 talented students from the Middle East the chance to study classical music under the maestro himself as well as a raft of other top musicians and composers. [Read more].

• Kate Connolly, Daniel Barenboim opens Berlin music academy for Middle East students, The Guardian, December 8, 2016

The Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin, Germany which will bring together music students from the Middle East. Photo: Barenboim-Said Akademie Berlin.

The Stars Must Wait

Yvette Chauviré, (born in Paris on April 22, 1917), the Grande Dame of French ballet, has died at the age of 99 at her home in Paris on October 19. She is pictured above at the Paris Opera on 6 November 1937. Photo: AFP/Getty Images.