Violinist and violist Michael Barenboim has often told interviewers that he has no memories of a life without music, an understandable admission given that his parents are conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova. Born in Paris in 1985, Michael began studying piano at age four before turning to the violin when his family moved to Berlin in 1992, where his teachers included Abraham Jaffe and Axel Wilczok. At age 15, he joined the family business, becoming a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, co-founded by his father and the writer Edward Said to bring together Israeli and Palestinian musicians. He was promoted to concertmaster in 2003. Among his current roles, he is dean of the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. As a soloist, Barenboim has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Israel Philharmonic. An avid chamber player, he has recorded albums of Mozart and Beethoven piano trios with his father and cellist Kian Soltani. In 2022, Barenboim became the violist of the Michelangelo String Quartet.