Covenant News

Chicago Symphony Director Among NPU Speakers

CHICAGO (September 7, 2000) - Daniel Barenboim, music director for the Chicago Symphony since 1991 and the general music director of the Deutshe Staatsoper Berlin since 1992, will be one of the featured guests at a September 24 Together Again for Peace event to support the new Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University (NPU).

Barenboim will reconnect with internationally renowned professor and author Edward Said and Hanna and Tanya Nasir for an evening of dinner and dialogue to help bridge the gap between Israelis and Palestinians.

There will be time for discussion following the 7 p.m. presentation. Dinner will commence at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 and reservations, which are required, may be made by calling the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at 773-244-5786.

Although Argentinean by birth, Barenboim became an Israeli when his family immigrated to Israel in 1952. Through a chance meeting in the early 1990s, he has developed a powerful friendship with Palestinian Edward Said. Together they have collaborated on musical events to further a shared vision of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, including Barenboim's first concert on the West Bank and a workshop in Germany for young musicians from the Middle East.

Said is an internationally renowned author and professor at Columbia University. His works include Orientalism (Vintage, 1979), The Question of Palestine (Vintage Books, 1992), and Out of Place: A Memoir (Knopf, 1999).

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies was established in November 1995. It is the first evangelical Christian Middle Eastern studies center in North America.

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