Giuseppe Sinopoli

His single most famous composition is perhaps his opera Lou Salomé, which received its first production in Munich in 1981, with Karan Armstrong in the title role.

[6] Sinopoli was appointed principal conductor of the Philharmonia in 1984, and served in this position until 1994, making a number of recordings with them, including music by Elgar and the complete symphonies of Mahler.

His conducting was the object of much controversy, especially in the symphonic genre, with some berating the "eccentricity" of his interpretations, while others praised the insightfulness of his often intellectual approach to works.

On 20 April 2001 Sinopoli suffered a heart attack while conducting Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.

The Giuseppe Sinopoli Festival celebrates the man not only as a musician and as a conductor but also as a composer, a doctor, an archaeologist and intellectual, with a variety of events from music and literature, theatre and art to conferences, exhibitions, publications and concerts.