Synopsis

Daniel Barenboim conducted a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio, his sole opera, featuring an international cast of singers and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of young musicians from Israel and the Arab world. The opera, a fervent outcry against political oppression and an ode to the strength of human affection, was rendered in German with English narration penned by Edward Said, the orchestra’s co-founder. John Suchet, a devoted admirer of Beethoven and the event's presenter, is jo