Золтан Пешко (Zoltan Peshko) |
Zoltán Peskó
Born in 1937 in Budapest, in the family of an organist of the Lutheran church. In the early 1960s, after graduating from the Liszt Academy in composition, he collaborated with radio and the Hungarian National Theater as a composer and conductor. After leaving Hungary in 1964, he trained at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome in composition with Goffredo Petrassi and in conducting with Sergio Celibidache and Pierre Boulez. A year later he became an assistant to Lorin Maazel at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, and in 1969-1973. – permanent conductor of this theater. His first work as a conductor-producer was “Simon Boccanegra” by G. Verdi. At the same time he taught at the Berlin High School of Music.
In 1970, Zoltan Peshko made his debut at La Scala. During one season, he staged here the operas Ulysses by L. Dallapikkola, The Imaginary Gardener by W. A. Mozart and The Fiery Angel by S. Prokofiev.
The further career of the conductor is connected with famous Italian orchestras and theaters. In 1974-76. he was chief conductor of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, 1976-78. Musical director of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 1978-82. led the RAI Symphony Orchestra (Milan), with which in 1980 he performed M. Mussorgsky’s Salambo (reconstruction of the opera, world premiere).
In 1996-99 was the general musical director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf-Duisburg).
In 2001 he became principal conductor of the San Carlos National Theater in Lisbon.
Among his productions are the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen by R. Wagner at the Teatro Regio in Turin, the ballets Petrushka and The Firebird by I. Stravinsky (Igor Stravinsky’s Evenings) at the Rome Opera, The Enchantress by P. Tchaikovsky (joint staged by the San Carlo Theater in Lisbon and the Mariinsky Theatre).
His operatic repertoire of a very extensive range includes works by G. Paisiello, W. A. Mozart, C. V. Gluck, V. Bellini, G. Verdi, J. Bizet, G. Puccini, R. Wagner, L. van Beethoven, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. Prokofiev, I. Stravinsky, F. Busoni, R. Strauss, O. Respighi, A. Schoenberg, B. Britten, B. Bartok, D. Ligeti, D. Schnebel and other composers.
He performed at many opera houses in Europe, and especially in Italian and German ones. Collaborated with well-known directors Franco Zeffirelli, Yuri Lyubimov (in particular, at the production of the opera “Salambo” at the Neapolitan theater San Carlo, 1983 and at the Paris National Opera, 1987), Giancarlo del Monaco, Werner Herzog, Achim Fryer and others .
Often performs at many famous music festivals. Repeatedly conducted the largest symphony orchestras in the world, including the Berlin and Munich Philharmonic.
He is a recognized interpreter of contemporary music. He was a permanent participant in this capacity of the Venice Biennale.
He has an extensive discography, including recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1989, he conducted the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad State Philharmonic Society (concert performance of the opera Salambo) by the honored collective of the republic.
In February 2004, he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre: the Bolshoi Orchestra conducted by Zoltan Peshko performed G. Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. In the 2004/05 season, he staged the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by D. Shostakovich.
Source: Bolshoi Theater website
