In 1999, Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in the form of a workshop for young Israeli, Palestinian and other Arab musicians. They met in that year's European Cultural Capital, Weimar, Germany – a place where the humanistic ideals of the Enlightenment are fraught with shadows of the Holocaust. There – they realized their dream of a better future; of humanizing others; and of replacing ignorance with education, knowledge and understanding.
 
During the workshop, individuals who had only ever interacted with each other through the prism of war found themselves living and working together as colleagues. As they listened to each other during rehearsals and discussions, they traversed deep political and ideological divides.
 
What began as an experiment immediately resulted in the desire for it to be repeated. Three years after its establishment, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was provided a home in Seville by the regional Spanish government of Andalusia. It quickly grew from a youth orchestra into an outstanding musical ensemble. Over the years, it has compiled a rich repertoire and has performed in the world’s most renowned concert halls.
 
In 2010 Daniel Barenboim’s vision of an academy that would continue the humanistic spirit of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as an innovative institution of higher education began to take shape.