Sebastian Weigle & Tine Thing Helseth

Born in Berlin, Sebastian Weigle studied horn, piano and conducting at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music and was appointed principal horn of the Staatskapelle Berlin in 1982. At the same time, he gained further conducting experience as Kapellmeister and assistant to Daniel Barenboim. From 1997 to 2002, he developed a wide-ranging repertoire as First Staatskapellmeister at the Berlin State Opera, went to the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona as General Music Director from 2004 to 2009 and took on the same position at the Frankfurt Opera from 2008 to 2023. Here he conducted Strauss’ Salome for the first time in 2002/03, followed by the premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten. For the extraordinary success of this production, he was named Conductor of the Year by the critics of Opernwelt in 2003. He has also received this award three times in Barcelona: in 2005 for his conducting of Parsifal, in 2006 for Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt and in 2010 for his conducting of Tristan und Isolde.

Sebastian Weigle has been Chief Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo/Japan since 2019, where he conducted concert performances of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and a major European tour with works by Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven in the 2024/25 season. Most recently, he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and performed with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Further invitations have taken him to the Copenhagen Philharmonic and the Graz Philharmonic, among others.

He returned to the podium at the Bayerische Staatsoper with a highly acclaimed new production of Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae. In 2025, he will also conduct the revivals of Pique Dame and Lohengrin there.

Sebastian Weigle’s engagements have taken him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin, Munich, Dresden and Hamburg State Operas, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London and the opera houses in Zurich, Cincinnati and Sydney as well as to Japan; he has also appeared in concerts with the Berlin, Dresden and Weimar State Orchestras, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his debut as a young conductor and soloist at the Salzburg Festival in 1990. Until 2011, he conducted the complete five-year performance cycle of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival. In 2015, he conducted the premiere of Der Freischütz at the Berlin State Opera, traveled to Bucharest with the Munich State Opera for the first performance of Elektra and made his debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera in New York for Fidelio and the acclaimed premiere of Der Rosenkavalier and opened the completely renovated Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin with the new production of Hansel and Gretel. In 2018, he returned to the podium of the Vienna State Opera for Lohengrin and Der Freischütz and made his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London with a new production of Hänsel und Gretel.

Recordings of works by Beethoven, Mozart and Rott, among others, as well as numerous opera productions by the Frankfurt Opera under his direction have been released on CD and DVD. A cycle of Richard Strauss’ symphonic poems with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra is also available from Oehms Classics.

Since the beginning of her career, Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth has championed the trumpet repertoire amongst audiences on all six continents, meriting the highest critical praise for her soulful, lyrical sound and collaborative approach to music-making. An artist who challenges the boundaries of genre with an intensely creative, open-minded philosophy, Tine’s ever-expanding repertoire ranges from the classical period to contemporary works and new commissions.

From 2023 Tine is the Artistic Director of Risør Chamber Music Festival with which she has been associated for over a decade. Throughout her career, she has been the recipient of numerous awards for her work in classical music, including “Newcomer of the Year” at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards, the 2009 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and second prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition, to which Tine returned to serve as juror for the 2016 competition. In 2007, Tine had the rare honour of being the first ever classical artist to win Newcomer of the Year at the Norwegian Grammy® Awards (Spellemannprisen).

Tine has worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tonkünstler-Orchester Vienna, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Scottish Orchestra at the BBC Proms, Warsaw, Oslo, Bergen and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras, Danish Radio Symphony orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Minnesota, Baltimore and Cincinnati orchestras, Singapore Symphony, KBS Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She also enjoys collaborations with a number of chamber orchestras, namely the Norwegian Chamber, Zurich Chamber and Munich Chamber orchestras, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and as well as the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Complimenting her live performances, Tine records for Norwegian label LAWO. Her latest release ‘She Composes like a Man’, recorded with tenThing Brass Ensemble and released in April 2024, features a carefully crafted programme of only female composers, each piece masterfully arranged by Jarle Storløkken. It is preceded by album “Seraph” (Nov’22) which gained worldwide recognition including a 5* review from the BBC Music Magazine. Her disc “Magical Memories for Trumpet and Organ” (May’21) was selected by Gramophone to feature in their “Recording of the Year 2021” August selection and received 5* review from BBC Music Magazine. Earlier recordings include concertos by Haydn, Albioni, Neruda and Hummel with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (for label SIMAX), “Storyteller” disc with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (on EMI Classics), a self-titled CD in March 2013, presenting a personal selection of original and transcribed works accompanied by pianist Kathryn Stott, and an album with tenThing Brass Ensemble (both on Warner Classics).

Tine resides in Oslo and maintains an active role in her community as a regular TV and radio presenter, and teaches trumpet at the Norwegian Academy of Music. An all-round musician, she also regularly performs in some of the most iconic jazz bars in Norway. In June 2013, Tine launched her own project, Tine@Munch, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch, featuring a variety of performances and guest artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicola Benedetti, and Truls Mork.