Co-Director
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

Mariam C. Said, born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, is a major force behind the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, co-founded in 1999 by her late husband Edward W. Said and the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Currently, she resides in New York City and serves as Vice-President of the Barenboim-Said Foundation (USA) and as a board member for Barenboim-Said projects in Germany and Palestine.

Mrs. Said holds an undergraduate degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and two graduate degrees from Columbia University in New York City, and is a founding board member of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Previously, Mrs. Said has served on the boards of several cultural organizations including The Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Palestine, and ArteEast, a New York-based international non-profit organization that supports and promotes artists from the Middle East and its diasporas.