The West‑Eastern Divan Orchestra was founded in 1999 by Argentine‑Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and Palestinian‑American academic Edward Said, who named the ensemble after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's West‑östlicher Divan. The first workshop opened in Weimar, Germany, after receiving over 200 applications from Arab music students. Over the years, the orchestra brought together musicians of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, and Hispanic backgrounds, promoting dialogue through performance. Notable concerts include their performance for Pope Benedict XVI and the BBC Proms Beethoven symphonic cycle in 2012, and the 2022 opening of the Prague Spring Festival with tw0 concerts of Bedřich Smetana's März Vlast. The group received the 2002 Príncipe de Asturias concord award, and the film about the orchestra, Knowledge Is the Beginning, won an Emmy Award for best documentary related to arts in 2006.
