Giuseppe Sinopoli (1946–2001) was an Italian conductor and composer. He performed with an intensity that made him one of Europe’s most controversial orchestra leaders.
Born in Venice, Sinopoli simultaneously studied medicine, psychiatry, and anthropology at the University of Padua (his dissertation was on criminal anthropology,) and composition at the Venice Conservatory, whose faculty he joined in 1972. He founded the Bruno Maderna Ensemble in Venice for contemporary music in 1975.
Sinopoli was the principal conductor and music director of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra (1984–94,) the Dresden State Opera’s principal conductor (1991–2001,) and a frequent guest conductor throughout Europe. His single most famous composition is the opera Lou Salomé, which received its first production in Munich in 1981, with Karan Armstrong in the title role.
Known for his use of extreme tempos and psychological interpretations of the Romantic opera repertory, Sinopoli also conducted his own avant-garde compositions, especially his two-act opera Lou Salomé (1981.) He recorded extensively for the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Sinopoli died of a heart attack he suffered while conducting a performance of Verdi’s Aida at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Giuseppe Sinopoli
The conductor must make it possible to eliminate himself in the music. If the orchestra feels him doing that, then everything will go well.
—Giuseppe Sinopoli
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