Deutsche Grammophon has announced that conductor Daniel Barenboim has signed a new and exclusive contract with the company.

The new partnership will include work with the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Boulez Ensemble, and members of the Barenboim-Said Akademie. Many of his recordings will be made in the flexible space of the Boulez Saal, home to the Barenboim-Said Akademie, a center for the cultivation of communication, listening, and understanding.

In a press release, the conductor noted, “I welcome this exclusive relationship with Deutsche Grammophon and believe that it will introduce the philosophy of the Pierre Boulez Saal, with its vision of the ‘thinking ear’ and of active, engaged listening, to a large new audience. We want to share what happens when performers explore music on all levels – emotional, sensory, spiritual, intellectual – and open minds to the understanding and insights that this can bring to our lives. There is so much that music can teach us about being human, about healing division and harmonizing the rational and the irrational, the logical and the intuitive.”

With the new contract, Deutsche Grammophon will develop three distinct recording series: Barenboim, the Pianist, and Conductor, Barenboim the Chamber Music Player and Barenboim, the Educator and Innovator. The latter will take the form of digital-only releases on Daniel Barenboim’s own label, Peral Music, and will be complemented by social media campaigns, a strong YouTube presence, and programs for children’s television.

The contract begins this summer with the release of two albums marking the start of the “Summertime with Barenboim” campaign. Maestro Barenboim’s mature reflections on the four symphonies of Brahms will be recorded with the Staatskapelle Berlin, and his recording of Mozart’s two piano quartets with Michael Barenboim, Kian Soltani and Yulia Deyneka, will be issued in July.