On this day: Daniel Barenboim is born

Now living in Berlin, he accepted a Palestinian passport in 2008. At the time he said: "I believe that the destinies of ... the Israeli people and the Palestinian people are inextricably linked. We are blessed - or cursed - to live with each other. And I prefer the first."

He set up the acclaimed West-Eastern Divan Orchestra with Palestinian intellectual Edward Said in 1999, with the aim of creating a space for young Arabs and Israelis to play classical music together.

A fierce critic of Israel, he once refused to be interviewed by an IDF journalist because she was wearing uniform. Last September he announced his support for a boycott of Israeli settlements by adding his name to a list of public figures expressing solidarity with Israeli artists who refused to perform in the West Bank.

What he told the JC about his Jewish identity: “It’s simple and complicated at the same time. It’s very difficult to define a secular Jew, and very easy to define a religious one. What is the difference between a secular Jew and a secular non-Jew? They are both human beings, both have dignity. Being a secular Jew is partly belonging to a people, partly religious tradition. In the end, I believe that if you feel Jewish, you are Jewish.”

See more from the JC archives here