A genuine renaissance man, Giuseppe Sinopoli, was born on November 2, 1946 in Venezia, Italia. He was a truly fascinating figure because he combined an extraordinary musical career with interests in medicine, archaeology, philosophy, and ancient history.
A true intellectual, Sinopoli studied conducting at the Venice Conservatory and mentored in composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen. He also studied medicine at the University of Padua and obtained a doctorate in medicine, with an emphasis on psychiatry.
But Sinopoli was not simply a conductor who happened to be interested in other subjects.He was deeply fascinated by the relationship between music, psychology, mythology, and human emotion. He studied archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University, with a particular interest in ancient civilizations.
Lamentably, while conducting Verdi's Aida at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, he suffered a fatal heart attack during the third act at the age of 54.
“Music is perhaps the moment in which man reaches, through his senses and intellect, the extreme boundaries of matter.”
