In the first part of today's program we look at politics in Spain and at the Spanish government's relationship to Saudi Arabia in the context of the recent death of a dissident Saudi journalist. The second part of the broadcast features twelve-tone music by Arnold Schoenberg: his "Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31," performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Based in the southern Spanish city of Seville, the orchestra was created in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said to bring together together Israeli, Palestinian, and other Arab musicians of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths. Young Spanish musicians are also among the members of the orchestra, whose attractive website--in four languages: English, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish--can be visited at: www.west-eastern-divan.org . The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will be on tour in the United States in November, 2018 with concert dates in Chicago, Washington, D. C., New York's Carnegie Hall, Berkeley, and Los Angeles.
