Anton Coppola
Anton Coppola | |
---|---|
New York City, New York , U.S. | |
Died | March 9, 2020 New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 102)
Spouses | Marion Jane Miller
(m. 1943, divorced)Almarinda Drago (m. 1950) |
Children | 3 |
Relatives | Coppola |
Antonio Francesco Coppola (March 21, 1917 – March 9, 2020) was an American opera conductor and composer. He was the
Life
Coppola was born in
Coppola's first marriage was to Marion Jane Miller, a ballet dancer, with whom he had one child, Susan Marion Coppola (1943–2008). After their divorce, he wed Almarinda Drago in 1950, also a ballet dancer, with whom he had two children, Lucia and Bruno Coppola.[1]
He became a great-great-grand-uncle in 2014 with the birth of his grand-nephew Nicolas Cage's grandson Lucian Augustus Coppola Cage and he turned 100 in March 2017.[3]
Works
Among Coppola's compositions are a violin concerto, a symphony, and Sacco and Vanzetti, an opera in both Italian and English about immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti. In the 1950s and 1960s, Coppola was the musical director of six Broadway musicals, including Silk Stockings, Bravo Giovanni and The Boy Friend. He conducted two film scores, The Godfather Part III (1990) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). He appeared in the former, shown conducting Cavalleria rusticana in the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.[4]
He debuted with the
Coppola helped found Opera Tampa in 1996 and served as its Founding Artistic Director. Among his numerous productions with the company was the world premiere of Sacco and Vanzetti on March 17, 2001.[citation needed] He retired from the position in 2012.[citation needed]
Coppola was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Puccini Foundation and recognized by the Italian government as Cavaliere, Gran Ufficiale.[citation needed]
Coppola collaborated with the
Award
In 2008, Opera Tampa announced that an award was to be established in his name. The Anton Coppola Excellence in the Arts Award is presented annually to recognize an artist for significant contributions to Opera Tampa and the music world at large, and specifically for extraordinary work in the cultivation and care of the operatic art form. Coppola himself was the recipient of the award in 2012, the year of his retirement.[citation needed]
Death
Coppola died on the 9th March 2020, just 12 days shy of his 103rd birthday, in Manhattan.[1]
Filmography
- The Godfather Part III (1990) - Conductor of 'Cavalleria Rusticana' (uncredited)[5]
- Mozart in the Jungle (2015) - Anton Gallo
See also
- Coppola family tree
References
- ^ a b c "Anton Coppola, Opera Conductor in Filmmaking Clan, Dies at 102". The New York Times. March 9, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80598-1.
- ^ Fred Plotkin (March 21, 2017). "Composer and Conductor Anton Coppola at 100: Fortissimo". WQXR-FM. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ Flemming, John (March 4, 2001). "Maestro Coppola's opus". Saint Petersburg Times. Sait Betersburg, Florida: Times Publishing.
Anton also had a role in his nephew's epic. He conducted the performance of Cavelleria Rusticana that concludes Godfather III with a sequence of Cosa Nostra killings interwoven among the arias.
- St. Petersburg Times: “A well-conducted life”
- Herald-Tribune: "Daniel Lipton succeeds Anton Coppola at Opera Tampa" Archived December 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- R.A. Forum: Anton Coppola, "Sacco and Vanzetti", opera
- “A Night of Stars”. Studio10.tv. Retrieved February 28, 2013
- Oussama Zahr. (May 2012) “OperaWatch”. Opera News, Vol 76, No. 11. Retrieved February 28, 2013
External links
- Anton Coppola at IMDb
- Anton Coppola at the Internet Broadway Database
- Anton Coppola discography at Discogs
- Sacco and Vanzetti documentary featuring an interview with Anton Coppola