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Sat, November 14, 2026 at 7:00 PM
ORCHESTRA OF THE BARENBOIM-SAID AKADEMIE & NABIL SHEHATA
Works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn
Pierre Boulez Saal
A former member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Nabil Shehata has been artistic director of the Orchestra of the Barenboim-Said Akademie since 2024, where he also serves as professor of double bass. Following concerts with works by Mozart, Schumann, Wagner, Schoenberg, and others, the young musicians now present Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. The soloists are Barenboim-Said Akademie alumna Nathalia Milstein as well as Mohamed Hiber and Astrig Siranossian, both longtime members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Artists
Conductor
Violin
Violoncello
Piano
Program
EVENT TIMELINE
In January 2026, the Orchestra of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, conducted by Nabil Shehata, performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto at the Pierre Boulez Saal with soloists Nathalia Milstein, Astrig Siranossian, and Mohamed Hiber. © Peter Adamik
© Peter Adamik
Mohamed Hiber © Peter Adamik
Nathalia Milstein © Peter Adamik
© Peter Adamik
Astrig Siranossian © Peter Adamik
artist biographies
Nabil Shehata was appointed Dean of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in September 2026 and has been artistic director of the Akademie’s orchestra since 2024. Born into a German-Egyptian family, he began his musical education as a double bass player at the University of Music in Würzburg and Berlin’s Hanns Eisler School of Music. He was awarded first prizes at several international competitions, including the ARD Music Competition in Munich, where he also received the audience award. After performing as principal double bass with the Staatskapelle Berlin from 2003 to 2004, he held the same position with the Berliner Philharmoniker until 2008. He served as principal double bass with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for more than ten years. Encouraged by Daniel Barenboim, among others, he began his career as a conductor in 2007, studying with Rolf Reuter, Lawrence Foster, and Christian Thielemann, and has since led major orchestras, including the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie Chemnitz, the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. He served as music director of the Munich Chamber Opera, subsequently holding the same position with the Philharmonie Südwestfalen from 2019 to 2024. Nabil Shehata has been closely associated with the Barenboim-Said Akademie since 2019 as professor of double bass. He also led the Filasteen Young Musicians Orchestra at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2023.
Mohamed Hiber grew up near Paris and studied violin with Ana Chumachenco at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid and at the Munich für Musik und Theater. He was a fellow of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and performs regularly with its ensemble, Mutter’s Virtuosi. He has been one of the concertmasters of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for several years, a position he also regularly takes on with the Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra London, and Orchestre de Paris. As a soloist, he has performed with Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Leipzig’s MDR Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony, and the Czech Philharmonic, among others. A passionate chamber musician, Mohamed Hiber has shared the stage with artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Elena Bashkirova, Yuri Bashmet, Gautier Capuçon, Martha Argerich, Khatia Buniatishvili, Kian Soltani, and François Leleux at the festivals in Salzburg and Lucerne, Beethovenfest Bonn, the Intonations festival in Berlin, and the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, among many other venues.
Cellist Astrig Siranossian studied at the Conservatoire in Lyon and with Ivan Monighetti at the Basel Music Academy. A winner of the Krzysztof Penderecki International Cello Competition, she has collaborated as a chamber musician and soloist with artists including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, Kirill Gerstein, Elena Bashkirova, and Emmanuel Pahud, appearing at the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, Walt Disney Hall, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, KKL Lucerne, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, and the Berlin Philharmonie. Her discography includes acclaimed recordings of Krzysztof Penderecki’s and Aram Khachaturian’s cello concertos; Dear Mademoiselle, a tribute to Nadia Boulanger; and the album Invisibles featuring forgotten works by French composers Jean Cras, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, and Marcelle Soulage. She is artistic director of the festival Musicades in her hometown of Romans sur Isère, of the Adèle Clément Cello Festival im Department Drôme, and of the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Festival in Trouville-sur-Mer. Astrig Siranossian teaches and the Paris Conservatoire and was awarded the Ordre national du Mérite in 2025. A frequent guest at the Pierre Boulez Saal as a soloist and member of the Boulez Ensemble, she plays a 1676 Ruggieri cello provided by Foundation Boubo-Music and an instrument made by Geinaro Gagliano in 1756.
Nathalia Milstein was born in 1995 to a family of musicians and received her first piano lessons from her father at the age of four. She went on to study with Nelson Goerner at Geneva’s Haute École de Musique and with Sir András Schiff at the Barenboim-Said Akademie. She received important guidance from musicians including Daniel Barenboim, Mikhail Voskressensky, Elena Ashkenazy, Enrico Pace, and Menahem Pressler. A winner of several competitions, she launched her international career with a first prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition in 2015. Since then, she has performed at major venues across Europe and in the U.S., including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and Zankel Hall at New York’s Carnegie Hall. She has collaborated with conductors such as Renaud Capucon, Jonathan Nott, Matthias Pintscher, and John Storgårds and was heard with Cologne’s WDR Symphony, the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. She has also appeared at Heidelberger Frühling, the Lille Piano Festival, the Radio France Festival, the International Piano Festival La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée, and at Berlin’s Intonations Festival, and is a regular guest at the Pierre Boulez Saal. Nathalia Milstein has recorded several CDs, including three duo albums with her sister, violinist Maria Milstein. Her most recent solo recording Alla Schumann was released in 2025.
The Orchestra of the Barenboim-Said Akademie was founded in 2023 by Daniel Barenboim, who led its public debut in April of that year with Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante and Schubert’s Symphony No. 3 at the Pierre Boulez Saal. The ensemble has since been heard there regularly performing works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, Schoenberg, and Prokofiev, among others. The orchestra carries forward the vision of Maestro Barenboim and Edward W. Said, who believed that music and thought belong together and that both flourish through artistic excellence, critical listening, humanism, and intellectual curiosity. In 2024, conductor and double bassist Nabil Shehata was named the ensemble’s artistic director. A former member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, he has been closely associated with the Akademie as a professor for double bass since 2019. In May 2026, the orchestra performed its first concert outside the Akademie at the International Chamber Music Festival in Verden. This November, it will be heard at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus as part of the Mendelssohn Festival.
The Barenboim-Said Akademie is kindly supported by
west-eastern divan festivaL
November 11–18, 2026
Created by Daniel Barenboim, the first West-Eastern Divan Festival brings together multiple institutions across Berlin’s diverse cultural landscape.
YOUR VISIT
How To Get There
Pierre Boulez Saal
Barenboim-Said Akademie
Französische Straße 33d
10117 Berlin
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Public Transport
U-Bahn U2 Hausvogteiplatz, U5 Museumsinsel, U6 Unter den Linden
S-Bahn S / U Friedrichstraße
Tram M1, 12 Mitte / Am Kupfergraben
Bus 147 Werderscher Markt; 100, 300, N5 Staatsoper
Bicycle
Bicycle racks are available on the street “Hinter der Katholischen Kirche.”
Car
Q-PARK parking garage Unter den Linden / Staatsoper
Bebelplatz 2
10117 Berlin
Theater rate (5.30 pm – 11.30 pm, paid in advance): €10
Please note there is a construction site across from the hall on Französische Straße. The street is narrowed, and cars or taxis are not allowed to stop in front of the Pierre Boulez Saal entrance.
Opening Hours
Box Office
Monday to Friday 2 pm to 6 pm
Closed on weekends and holidays
On performance days, the box office opens one hour prior to an event.
Papagena Call Center
Ticket hotline +49 30 4799 7411
Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm
Sunday and public holidays 2pm to 8pm
Food & Drinks
Casalot Catering welcomes Pierre Boulez Saal visitors before and after concerts, serving a variety of dishes of Arab cuisine.
On concert nights, the bar opens one hour before the start of an event and remains open after the performance. You may also place pre-orders for intermission right at the counter.
More informantion on our catering can be found here.
Coat Check
Small bags up to a maximum size of A4 (21x30 cm) and jackets may be taken into the concert hall. Luggage, helmets, large umbrellas, and other bulky items must be stored at the coat check.
The coat check is free and located behind the staircase in the foyer, on the left-hand side.
Accessibility
To book wheelchair-accessible seating, other seats for visitors with disabilities, or companion seats, please contact us directly.
+49 30 4799 7411
tickets@boulezsaal.de
All wheelchair seats are accessible by elevator. All visitors, including patrons using a wheelchair, will enter the Pierre Boulez Saal through the main entrance. Tickets will be checked at the hall doors.
In order to make access as easy as possible, we kindly ask that you inform us of your requirements when booking your tickets.
Restrooms for visitors with disabilities are located in the basement and on the balcony level and are accessible by elevator.
Four parking spaces for visitors with disabilities are available on the street Hinter der Katholischen Kirche.
