Nicola Rescigno
Nicola Rescigno (May 28, 1916 – August 4, 2008) was an
Biography
Born into a musical family in New York City, he studied with Pizzetti, Giannini and Polacco. He made his debut in 1943, conducting La traviata, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for Alfredo Salmaggi's opera company. He then toured the United States with the San Carlo Opera Company, serving as the company's music director from 1944-1947. He then took music director posts with the Connecticut Opera and Havana Opera. He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1950 conducting Lily Pons in The Barber of Seville and Dorothy Kirsten in Madama Butterfly.[1]
In 1953, Rescigno co-founded the Lyric Opera of Chicago with businesswoman and amateur singer Carol Fox and businessman Lawrence V. Kelly, serving as the company's artistic director and principal conductor from 1954 to 1956. For the company's inaugural performance he conducted Maria Callas in her American debut in the title role of Bellini's Norma. He went on to collaborate with the famous soprano several more times, including conducting her only stage appearances as Cio-Cio-San (Chicago, 1955) and her 1959 Carnegie Hall concert of Il pirata.[1]
In 1957, Rescigno co-founded the
He made his debut at the
His close association with Maria Callas, having been one of her favourite conductors, resulted in several album recordings of operatic arias made for EMI, from 1958 to 1969. He also recorded an album of Verdi arias with Robert Weede (in 1953), excerpts from Francesca da Rimini (with Mario Del Monaco and Magda Olivero, 1969), and complete sets of Tosca (with Mirella Freni, 1978) and Lucia di Lammermoor (with Edita Gruberová, 1983). Also available, on DVD, are a 1959 concert from Hamburg with Callas, and a 1981 performance of L'elisir d'amore from the Met, with Judith Blegen and Luciano Pavarotti.
Nicola Rescigno was the uncle of conductor Joseph Rescigno. He died at the age of 92 in a hospital in Viterbo, Italy, while awaiting surgery on his broken femur.[2] He was survived by his long-term companion Aldo Marcoaldi.
Sources
- Grove Music Online, Cori Ellison, June 2008.
References
- ^ a b c d "Nicola Rescigno, 92, Conductor and Co-Founder of Lyric Opera of Chicago and Dallas Opera, has Died". Opera News. Vol. 73, no. 4. October 2008. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
- ^ "Nicola Rescigno, Who Helped Found Opera Companies in Chicago and Dallas, Dies at 92". The New York Times.