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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VERDI: LA TRAVIATA
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on 27 mei 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Callas sings Verdi Arias - Callas Remastered
Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Operafragmenten - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jul. 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tenor Arias from Italian Opera
Luciano Pavarotti, Wiener Opernorchester, Nicola Rescigno, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Leone Magiera
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Callas - Mad Scenes from Anna Bolena, Hamlet & Il pirata - Callas Remastered
Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Philharmonia Orchestra
Operafragmenten - Released by Warner Classics on 19 sep. 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca - Highlights
Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Positively Golden
Ruth Ann Swenson, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Angel Records on 1 jan. 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor (Highlights)
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: La traviata (Live at the Coven Garden, 20/06/1958)
The Covent Garden Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, Maria Callas, Cesare Valletti
Klassiek - Released by Ica Classics on 27 mei 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini – Excerpts (Opera Gala – Volume 20)
Magda Olivero, Mario del Monaco, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 13 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Médée (Intégrale)
Volledige opera's - Released by Myto Historical on 29 sep. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maria Callas Portrays Verdi Heroines (Album of 1959)
Maria Callas, Philharmonia Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Casta Diva on 30 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maria Callas répète à Dallas
Maria Callas, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Operafragmenten - Released by Myto Historical on 25 nov. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Callas sings Mozart, Beethoven & Weber Arias - Callas Remastered
Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Héroïnes de Verdi (Remastered, Stereo Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, Maria Callas
Opera - Released by BNF Collection on 2 mei 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
CHERUBINI: MEDEA
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on 1 jan. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mad Scenes from Anna Bolena, Hamlet and Il Pirata (Album of 1959)
Maria Callas, Philharmonia Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by Casta Diva on 30 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maria Callas: Live in Stuttgart 1959
Maria Callas, Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks, Nicola Rescigno
Klassiek - Released by FM Records on 1 jan. 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BELLINI: IL PIRATA (IVB 12, Act II: "Oh gioia! E' in mio poter", Imogene Versione REMASTER)
Nicola Rescigno, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Maria Callas
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on 22 jan. 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Héroïnes de Verdi (Stereo Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, Maria Callas
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 2 mei 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo