"Many operas, tragic in nature, leave an audience deeply affected, but Wozzeck holds a special place – its ‘man’s inhumanity-to-man’ and ‘society and the system will destroy you’ messages go straight to the heart and leave us feeling dejected. (…) for an almost unbearable, ghastly view of life, madness and uncaring, this present production, from the stage of Barcelona’s Teatre del Liceu, directed by bad-boy Calixto Bieito, will hereafter be the one to beat. (…) It’s amazing that the audience doesn’t go crazy the way Wozzeck does. (…) We must be grateful that Sebastian Weigle, the Liceu’s Music Director, leads a reading of the score that is an antidote to the filth in front of him. (…) The overwhelming interlude before the opera’s last scene is beautifully played (…) there are moments of such tenderness between Marie and her child that humanity does creep through. In addition, Weigle’s cast never overplays the Sprechgesang; there is always ‘gesang’ present with Wozzeck and Marie, so we can continue to feel what softness has been left them. The orchestra’s control of dynamics, from Berg’s pppppp to ƒƒƒƒƒ, can take one’s breath away. .................. the opera is superbly served musically, and you won’t forget it."
Sebastian Weigle Named Music Director of Frankfurt Opera
Sebastian Weigle will replace Paolo Carignani as music director of the Frankfurt Opera in 2008, the company announced.
The Berlin-born Weigle has been music director of Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu since fall 2004. He was on the staff of the Berlin State Opera from 1997 to 2002 and has led the Landesjugendorchester Brandenburg since 1993.
Weigle has appeared as a guest conductor with Cincinnati Opera, Dresden State Opera, Opera Australia, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and elsewhere.
In 2003, he was named conductor of the year by Opernwelt magazine for a Frankfurt Opera production of Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Carignani announced in June that he would he would leave Frankfurt Opera in 2008, surprising local observers and city officials. Asked whether backstage intrigue had led to his resignation, he would say only that “there is also intrigue at supermarkets, banks, and stock markets.”
Previous conductors at Frankfurt Opera include Georg Solti, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Michael Gielen. PlaybillArts, 23.11.2005
Sebastian Weigle was chosen by the bacelonian opera review best musical director of the season 2004/05. Source: Ópera actual, 20.10.2005
Grant Park Orchestra - Millenium Parc Chicago, August 2004
“After three weeks, the novelty hasn't worn off the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park.
Only a few scattered seats were empty at the Grant Park Orchestra's concert on Saturday night, and picnickers taking advantage of the mild weather stretched to the outer reaches of the lawn. Spectators lined the long walls from the edges of the pavilion near Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive to hear German conductor Sebastian Weigle lead a program that opened with the overture to Rossini's "The Barber of Seville,'' continued with a suite from John Corigliano's opera "The Ghosts of Versailles'' and closed with Dvorak's "New World'' Symphony.
The Dvorak "New World'' Symphony was vibrantly colored. Weigle and his players seemed to luxuriate in the tender, long-lined melodies in the third and fourth movements, lingering over their arches without losing the momentum.
I wandered across the lawn during the final movement of the Dvorak and found the orchestra's sound just as detailed as it had been in my seat closer to the pavilion.
The listeners were amazingly quiet, probably because the orchestra, though invisible from the lawn, sounded so close. At one point, a young woman and a little girl swayed and danced to the music, their bodies forming black silhouettes against the warm brown wood of the pavilion's interior.
Summer in the city doesn't get much better than this.”
Chicago SunTimes
“Now that the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park is in full operation, and the sound system noticeably improved, it's a more level playing field between the Grant Park and Ravinia music festivals, artistically speaking.
The point was neatly symbolized by the weekend concerts of the Grant Park Orchestra downtown and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Highland Park. Both programs were built around the same symphony, Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World." Both orchestras delivered top-notch performances of complementary virtues. Balmy weather helped swell attendance for both events. It was especially encouraging to find Millennium Park pulling in hordes of people, some of whom probably were experiencing live classical music for the first time.
The "New World" Symphony is the 2004 Ravinia "One Score, One Chicago" selection, part of a laudable, area-wide education and community outreach program marking the 100th anniversary of Ravinia's founding and Dvorak's death. James Conlon, Ravinia's music director-designate, devoted the final CSO weekend of the summer to three major Dvorak works, including the E-Minor Symphony.
If there were any lingering doubts about his being the best choice to succeed Christoph Eschenbach, his "New World" on Saturday settled them. He had the orchestra playing on its mettle, drawing fully on the brass' fabled musculature while savoring a wealth of singing detail in this melody-packed masterpiece. Conlon also relaxed the strong forward momentum enough to give our expert woodwind principals --
One of the advantages of the free Grant Park concert series is that it can give gifted newcomers such as Sebastian Weigle a chance to be heard in Chicago. The young German conductor maximized his minimal rehearsal time with the Grant Park Orchestra in his weekend program of Dvorak, Rossini and John Corigliano.
His approach to the "New World" Symphony was warmer, more relaxed, more Central European than Conlon's. The Grant Park Orchestra did not pounce on phrases quite as sharply as the CSO, nor was the sound so high-powered as heard from the back of the main seating area. Unlike Conlon, Weigle took the exposition repeat in the first movement. Judith Kulb sang the famous English horn solo nostalgically. The brass opened up robustly in the finale but without any harsh edges, while the other woodwind solos unfolded comfortably.
It is an effectively atmospheric orchestral work, especially when serving up sly opera-buffa pastiche a la Rossini and Mozart. Weigle is to be commended for having learned the score and for teaching it so thoroughly to the orchestra. Too bad part of the music didn't quite work al fresco: The eerie, synthesizer-laced "ghost music" of the opening section and the serene final section were lost to the ambient noise of Friday night in the park.” Chicago Tribune
Lohengrin, Sydney Opera House, August 2001
Sebastian Weigle’s conducting, comprehensive in its supervision of stage and pit, established the always reassuring coherence of the score and much of its lustrous coloring, His affinity with the principals and with Michael Black’s outstandingly well-trained chorus was consistently audible. Sydney Morning Herald, 13. August 2001
... Still, with so much thrilling singing, a herculean effort from German conductor Sebastian Weigle ... The Australian 13. August 2001
