Edward W. Said Days in Berlin: The legacy of a visionary bridge-builder

With this year's "Edward Said Days" marking the 20th anniversary of the death of the Palestinian-American literary scholar, the Berlin Barenboim-Said Academie and the Pierre Boulez Hall opened their 2023/24 season on 26 August 2023. By Ceyda Nurtsch

  • The West-East Divan Orchestra was founded in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said (image: Peter Adamik)
    To mark the 20th anniversary of the Palestinian literary scholar's death, the Edward W. Said Days, which have been held since 2018, opened this year's season in the Pierre Boulez Hall
  • The West-East Divan Orchestra was founded in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said (image: Peter Adamik)
    "The Barenboim-Said Academie was born out of the close friendship between Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim. Their dream of a conservatoire combining musical education with sound humanities teaching in philosophy and other subjects became a reality with the founding of the academy," Regula Rapp, rector of the Barenboim-Said Academie, said in her address
  • Professor James S. Helgeson (image: Peter Adamik)
    "The central theme of this year's Edward W. Said Days at the Barenboim-Said Academie is to explore the enormous richness of his critical work, especially his reflections on colonialism and postcolonialism, through a series of cultural phenomena that were largely beyond his sphere of influence," explained Professor James S. Helgeson
  • Mariam C. Said (image: Peter Adamik)
    Following her husband's death in 2003, Mariam Said took on his commitment to the orchestra. "I often wish Edward could see the fruits of his joint work with Daniel Barenboim," she said at the opening of the Edward W. Said Days at the Barenboim-Said Academie in Berlin
  • Professor Dag Nikolaus Hasse, University of Wurzburg (image: Peter Adamik)
    Edward Said on Andalucia: to what extent can a culture of the past serve as a model for the future? "We can work on coexistence both in the highest cultural forms and in daily life. We can learn that from Andalucia and from Edward Said," said Professor Dag Nikolaus Hasse from the University of Wurzburg
  • Dr. Scheherazade Hassan, Professor Martin Scherzinger, and Dr. Wouter Capitain spoke about (post-)colonialism. Here with Mariam Said and Professor James Helgeson (image: Peter Adamik)
    Drawing on Said's theory of postcolonialism, other lectures examine cultural appropriation, representation and mutual influence using the example of Cairo, the analysis of musical techniques in pre-colonial Africa and Said's engagement with opera
  • Professor Kofi Agawu, distinguished professor at New York City University Graduate Center (image: Peter Adamik)
    "A considerable body of choral music, chamber music, orchestral music and operas exists by composers rooted in the African musical tradition. How is it that this tradition of African art music is largely invisible?" asked Kofi Agawu, distinguished professor at New York City University Graduate Center