Daniel Barenboim Named Honorary Citizen of Berlin

On April 21, Daniel Barenboim was named a citizen of honor of Berlin by Mayor Franziska Giffey in a ceremony at city hall.

For over 30 years, Barenboim served as the General Music Director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. Barenboim also founded the Barenboim-Said Akademie and co-founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

Mayor Giffey paid tribute to Barenboim, stating that Barenboim “demonstrates incomparable mastery both at the grand piano and at the conductor’s stand,” continuing to tell him that “as an artist and as a person, you are truly a figure of the century.”

Barenboim is Berlin’s 123rd citizen of honor, joining a list that includes actress Marlene Dietrich and post-World War II West Germany’s first leader, Konrad Adenauer.