Daniel Barenboim plays Beethoven

On August 19, 1950—70 years ago to the day—a seven-year-old piano prodigy performed onstage for the first time in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The wunderkind would soon cross the ocean to study and perform in Europe, where his remarkable talent earned him a sterling reputation among the biggest names in classical music. In Salzburg, he played at the Mozarteum in 1951, studied conducting with Igor Markevitch during the summer of 1954, and made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1965 at the beginning of a long and storied career that would see him take a well-earned place among the greatest of all time.