Sebastian Weigle (born 1961, in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

) 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 at ...

Biography

Weigle is a nephew of the conductor and music educator Jörg-Peter Weigle and the brother of the late violist Friedemann Weigle of the Artemis Quartet. Weigle studied at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" 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 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. In 2003, Weigle was named "Conductor of the Year" by the German magazine '' Opernwelt'', and subsequently won this award in 2005 and 2006. From 2004 to 2008, he was music director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Weigle conducted a new production of Wagner's ''

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

'' 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 ...

in 2007, staged by Katharina Wagner, 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'', 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'', 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