Sebastian Weigle (born 1961, in East Berlin) is a German conductor and horn player. He is currently ''Generalmusikdirektor'' of the Oper Frankfurt and principal conductor of the

Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. The orchestra also performs in Yokohama ...

Biography

Weigle is a nephew of the conductor and music educator

Jörg-Peter Weigle Jörg-Peter Weigle (born 1953, in Greifswald), is a German conductor and music professor. He is the uncle of the conductor Sebastian Weigle and the violist Friedemann Weigle. Weigle received his first musical training from 1963 to 1971 as a memb ...

and the brother of the late violist Friedemann Weigle of the

Artemis Quartet The Artemis Quartet is a German string quartet, founded in 1989 in Lübeck, and now based in Berlin. The quartet is named for the Greek goddess of hunting and the wilderness. History The first members of the Artemis Quartet, Wilken Ranck, Isa ...

. Weigle studied at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right ...

in horn, piano and conducting. In 1987 he founded the Berlin Chamber Choir, and later he led the New Berlin Chamber Orchestra. He was principal horn player in the orchestra of the

Berlin State Opera The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great ...

for 15 years. He also was a member of the jazz orchestra "Vielharmonie" in East Berlin. In 1993, Weigle became chief conductor of the . In 1997, he became of the

Staatsoper Unter den Linden The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great fro ...

. In 2003, Weigle was named "Conductor of the Year" by the German magazine ''

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert ...

'', and subsequently won this award in 2005 and 2006. From 2004 to 2008, he was music director of the

Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People * Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" *Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet cou ...

in Barcelona. Weigle conducted a new production of Wagner's '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived a ...

in 2007, staged by

Katharina Wagner Katharina Wagner (born 21 May 1978 in Bayreuth) is a German opera stage director and is the director of the Bayreuth Festival. She is the daughter of Wolfgang Wagner and Gudrun Wagner (née Armann), great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, and g ...

, as well as repeated performances in the following years. Since the 2008–2009 season, Weigle has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (General Music Director) of the Oper Frankfurt. He conducted new productions of '' Daphne'' and ''

Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dr ...

'' by Richard Strauss, Korngold's ''

Die tote Stadt ' (German for ''The Dead City''), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It is based on the 1892 novel '' Bruges-la-Mo ...

'', Reimann's '' Lear'' and '' Die Fledermaus'' by Johann Strauß, and he took over Mozart's '' Die Zauberflöte'', Beethovens '' Fidelio'', and Wagner's '' Tristan und Isolde'' and '' Parsifal''. He conducted Wagner's ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelun ...

'', staged by

Vera Nemirova Vera Nemirova ( bg, Вера Немирова, born 1972) is a Bulgarian-German opera director who has worked at major opera houses in Europe, staging for example Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' at the Oper Frankfurt. She directed for the Muni ...

, with two complete cycles in 2012. Single performances were recorded. With Oper Frankfurt, Weigle has made commercial recordings of opera for the OEHMS Classics label. He is scheduled to stand down as GMD of Oper Frankfurt at the close of the 2022–2023 season. Outside of Europe, Weigle became principal conductor of the

on 1 April 2019, with an initial contract of three years.

References

External links

* * * *
Sebastian Weigle (Conductor)
bach-cantatas.com 2007
Michael Lewin agency page on Sebastian Weigle

Naxos {{DEFAULTSORT:Weigle, Sebastian German horn players German male conductors (music) 1961 births Living people Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin alumni Musicians from Berlin 20th-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians