Giuseppe Sinopoli

Born in November 2, 1946 in Venice, Italy, Giuseppe Sinopoli was a conductor and composer. Although he was at the helm of most of the great operas and symphonies in the Italian and German repertoires, he was a controversial figure. He was criticized for his analytical approach, which flew in the face of the livelier styles sometimes favored by modern audiences. Giuseppe Sinopoli studied at Venice’s Benedetto Marcello Conservatoire and at Darmstadt and he was mentored for a period by Karlheinz Stockhausen. His Sicilian father wanted him to be a doctor and so he also went to the University of Padua to earn a degree in medicine. While training as a surgeon and psychiatrist, he began composing and, in 1972, he became professor of contemporary and electronic music at the Conservatoire. He also took his first steps into conducting and formed the Bruno Maderna Ensemble. Of his own compositions, his most famous was the 1981 opera Lou Salome, which was inspired by the life of the Russian psychoanalyst and author. In the 1980s, Giuseppe Sinopoli concentrated on conducting, his brilliance established by performances of Puccini's Tosca in New York in 1985. He went on to spend ten years as principal conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. He subsequently had a love-hate relationship with the British public as critics rallied against his obsession with slow, precise arrangements and his intellectualization of the music at a time when it was more fashionable for opera to be performed with more verve, pace and freedom. He did, however, have a successful recording career with Deutsche Grammophon. His catalog features over 150 releases including Ein Deutsches Requiem (1983), Nabucco (1983), Mahler: Symphonie No. 5 (1985), Elgar: Symphony No. 2 (1988), Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (1990), Beethoven: Symphonie No. 9 (1996), and many more. Giuseppe Sinopoli toured all over the world and was especially revered in Germany, Japan and Italy. In 1992, he became principal conductor at the Staatskapelle Dresden. On April 20th, 2001, while he was conducting Verdi’s Aida at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, he suffered a heart attack and died. He was 54 years old.

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