Born in 1959, Elena Bashkirova is the daughter of Russian pianist Dimitri Bashkirov, with whom she studied at the Moscow Conservatoire, and is the wife of Daniel Barenboim. She is a regular guest soloist with major orchestras conducted by eminent conductors (Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Erno Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, etc.), both in Europe and the United States. In addition to the classical and romantic repertoire, it supports contemporary music and takes part in a number of world premieres. In 1998, she founded the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, of which she is artistic director.