The West–Eastern Divan Orchestra is an orchestra based in Seville, Spain, consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East, of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Spanish background. It was founded in 1999 by the conductor Daniel Barenboim and academic Edward Said, and named after an anthology of poems by Goethe. Martha Argerich, pianist and longtime performing partner of Barenboim, was named an honorary member of the orchestra in 2015. In 2016, the Barenboim-Said Akademie was established in Berlin, Germany, as a state-accredited music conservatory offering Bachelor of Music degrees and Artist Diplomas. The Akademie, whose president is Daniel Barenboim, is based on the founding aims of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. History The Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded the orchestra in 1999, and named the ensemble after an anthology of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The first orchestra workshop was in Weimar, Germany, in 1999, after the organisation had received over 200 applications from Arab music students. Barenboim has also expressed interest in musicians from Iran (a non-Arab country but in conflict with Israel) and allocating three chairs for Iranian musicians to play in the orchestra each year. In 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon designated the orchestra as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, praising the orchestra's push for peace and unity. Performances The orchestra under Barenboim, in the presence of Italian President and Mrs. Giorgio Napolitano, performed for Pope Benedict XVI at the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo 11 July 2012, the abbot Saint Benedict of Nursia's (the founder of the Benedictines) feast day, and thus the name day of the Pope. The West–Eastern Divan participated in the 9th Gwangju Biennale in 2012. The orchestra, conducted by Barenboim, performed the complete Beethoven symphonic cycle at The Proms in July 2012 – the first time all nine symphonies were performed under a single conductor in a single Prom season since Henry Wood did so in 1942. Since 2011, the orchestra has annually given a concert at Berlin's Waldbühne. Aims The aim of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra is to promote understanding between Israelis and Palestinians and pave the way for a peaceful and fair solution of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Barenboim himself has spoken of the ensemble as follows: "The Divan is not a love story, and it is not a peace story. It has