Conductor Barenboim to be Nobel nominee

Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for using music to bring peace to the Middle East, supporters announced Wednesday. An official announcement about the 69-year-old musician's nomination will take place on August 17 at the Academia Argentina de Letras language academy in Buenos Aires. Around 2,500 people in Argentina have expressed their support for the nomination. Former president of Uruguay Julio Maria Sanguinetti and writer Juan Jose Sebreli were among those promoting the nomination. Along with his friend, late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, Barenboim brought together young Arabs, Israelis and Iranians to form an orchestra in 1999, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which tours the world. "Music cannot solve conflicts but music has the ability to make people interested and passionate about the same thing," Barenboim said Tuesday before his orchestra performed a concert in South Korea. Since 1992, Barenboim has been a conductor at the Staatsoper in Berlin, one of three opera houses in the German capital. Born in Buenos Aires in 1942 to Jewish parents of Russian origin, the musician uses his international fame to promote peace between Israel and its neighbors, especially the Palestinians. Barenboim also has Spanish citizenship and a Palestinian passport. Argentina currently has five Nobel Laureates.