Nicola Rescigno
Nicola Rescigno was an acclaimed American conductor of opera. It wasn't just his insightful interpretations and brilliant baton technique that he is remembered for. It is that Rescigno presented Maria Callas to the American operatic world and regularly performed and recorded with her and he also co-founded the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Dallas Opera. Moreover, many other front-rank opera stars debuted in the U.S. under his aegis, including Domingo, Vickers, Franco Zeffirelli, Sutherland, Caballé, Teresa Berganza, and Magda Olivero. There is little doubt that Rescigno was one of the most influential figures in American opera from the latter half of the twentieth century. He was in his element in the classic Italian operas, particularly those of Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, and Puccini, but he also led operas by Handel and Mozart, as well as contemporary operas. Rescigno made countless recordings, many still available on Decca, EMI, DG, and reissue labels like Opera D'oro, Bella Voce, and Melodram.
Rescigno was born in New York City on May 28, 1916. Discouraged from studying music by his father, a trumpeter with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, he went to Italy to study law, but returned to enroll at Juilliard. He eventually studied with three prominent composers: Vittorio Giannini, Ildebrando Pizzetti, and Giorgio Polacco.
Rescigno's official debut came in 1943 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where he led a performance of La Traviata. He steadily built his career thereafter, working first in smaller opera houses. By the early '50s he was an international figure on the opera scene. He co-founded (with Lawrence V. Kelly and Carol Fox) the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1953, and then served as its music director (1954-1956).
In 1957 he co-founded (again with Kelly) the Dallas Opera, initially called the Dallas Civic Opera, serving as principal conductor and artistic director until 1990. Except for Callas, whom he introduced to the U.S. in Chicago in 1953, it was in Dallas that Rescigno oversaw the U.S. debuts of so many opera stars, including Domingo and Sutherland.
Rescigno's debut at the Met came relatively late in his career -- 1978 -- when he led a performance of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, with Beverly Sills among the principals. With the appointment of Plato Karayanis as general director of the Dallas Opera in 1977, Rescigno gradually became disenchanted with the progressive changes Karayanis introduced. Rescigno departed in 1990 and spent most of his remaining years in Viterbo, Italy.
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CHERUBINI: MEDEA
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on 13 sep. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
VERDI: LA TRAVIATA
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on 27 mei 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live in Amsterdam 1959
Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Concertgebouworkest
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 sep. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kubik: Symphony Concertante - Creston: Walt Whitman & Lydian Ode (Mono Version)
Gail Kubik, Nicola Rescigno, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vincenzo Bellini: Il Pirata
Chor der American Opera Society, Orchester der American Opera Society, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Cantus Classics on 1 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luigi Cherubini: Medea
Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Cantus Classics on 1 jan. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Callas portrays verdi heroines
Nicola Rescigno, Philharmonia Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Vinyle Numérique on 16 nov. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giuseppe Verdi: Otello
Chor des Dallas Civic Opera Centers, Orchester des Dallas Civic Opera Centers, Nicola Rescigno
Opera - Released by Cantus Classics on 30 nov. 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo