Around the Music Festival

The opera “Sardanapalo” composed by Franz Liszt (1811-1886) which was incomplete finished the world premiere in Weimar, Germany last month. “Sardanapalo” is based on Lord Byron’s 1821 historical tragedy “Sardanapalus,” which recounts the tale of the hedonistic, Assyrian king. Works of three acts written in Italian.

The score for the performance was completed by David Trippett, Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Cambridge. The trigger was that Trippett discovered the manuscript “Sardanapalo” in the Goethe-Schiller archive in Weimar, when he was a student at the Leipzig Conservatory. Liszt served as artistic director of the Weimar court orchestra from 1846 to 1858. According to Trippett’s survey, Liszt began writing works in 1849. Since discovering, Trippett joined together the sketches left by Liszt for more than 10 years and finished the score by orchestrated in the last three years.

The Staatskapelle Weimar conducted by Kirill Karabits was performed on August 19th and 20th. It was performed in a concert style at a concert that decorated the opening of the new season of the orchestra. The singers are Joyce El-Khoury (soprano), Airam Hernandez (tenor), Oleksandr Pushniak (baritone).

Photo：Staatskapelle Weimar 　/　Candy Welz