Georg Solti (1912 -1997) - conductor

Although I made sketches for this painting in the Concertgebouw a few months before the death of Sir Georg Soiti in 1997, the musical inspiration also came from material collected earlier on video.

His recordings of Strauss's "Four Last Songs", with Kiri Te Kanawa, a wonderful performance of Bartok's Concert for Orchestra (a piece with which he was particularly associated), followed by the final scene from Beethoven's Fidelio, performed by the World Orchestra for Peace in Geneva in 1995.

The swirling atmosphere of strange colors is also the influence of Wagner's operas. Sir Georg had an extraordinarily free conducting technique, molding ideas in the air.

I have tried to portray his ability to communicate his powerful musical convictions through a variety of expressions and to depict his legendary, driving energy as he urges the singers on, his wonderful sense of humor expressed in those twinkling eyes.