Tito Capobianco, who created groundbreaking productions at the New York City Opera in the 1960s and ’70s, including a rare staging of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” that made Beverly Sills a star, and went on to became a strong-willed general director at the Pittsburgh Opera, died on Saturday at his home in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fla. He was 87.

His death was announced by the Pittsburgh Opera. His son Renato said on Facebook that the cause was cancer. Mr. Capobianco brought a diverse background to his work in opera: He was an aspiring young baritone in his native Argentina, an actor on stage and screen, and briefly a student of ballet. His best productions combined singing, acting, movement and scenic designs into finely integrated stagings.