born July 7, 1911, Cadegliano, Italy
Italian-born U.S. composer, librettist, and stage director.
Having written an opera by age 10, he spent his early teens absorbing the repertoire at La Scala. Arturo Toscanini recommended study at the Curtis Institute; there he met Samuel Barber , who would become his lifelong companion. In 1939 he produced the radio opera The Old Maid and the Thief ; The Island God (1942) was an unsuccessful commission for the Metropolitan Opera. The Medium (1946) had a Broadway run, and The Consul (1950, Pulitzer Prize) was also successful. The highly popular Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951), for television, was followed by The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955, Pulitzer Prize). In 1958 he founded the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy; it enjoyed great success, and in 1977 he founded a New World counterpart in Charleston, S.C.