Conductor Barenboim aiding Mideast peace

German conductor Daniel Barenboim says his participation in the West-Eastern Divan represented his support for peace in the Middle East.

By co-founding the youth orchestra in 1999 with late academic Edward Said, Barenboim said he was trying to bring young musicians of Palestinian, Egyptian and Israeli descent a chance to find a common bond, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The idea was to give each person a forum to articulate his or her thoughts and beliefs in front of the other, he said. I grew up in Israel in the ’50s, when it was not an occupying power.

In addition to his involvement with the international orchestra, Barenboim is to take part in a series of New York performances and is ready to release a collection of his personal essays, Music Quickens Times.

But Barenboim insists his multi-pronged efforts merely represent his dedication to music.

I don’t feel I have an abnormal schedule, he told the Times. What would I have done without the recital yesterday? I would have gotten up at 10 instead of 9:30. I would have played the piano here at home instead of there.