born May 9, 1914, Barletta, Italy
Italian conductor.
He studied viola and composition at Santa Cecilia in Rome and, after years as a violist, became a conductor in 1944. That same year he was appointed musical director for Italian Radio. In 1950 he organized the Milan Radio Orchestra. After several years at La Scala in Milan, he left opera at the peak of his international career in 1967; he thereafter devoted his time to conducting symphony orchestras. His recordings of operas and choral works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi were widely acclaimed, and he subsequently held important orchestral posts in Chicago (1968–78), Vienna (1973–76), and, his last, Los Angeles (1978–84).