Introduced by Peter Gelb, General manager, Metropolitan Opera with the participation of Esward Smaldone, Director, Aaron Copland school of music. Giulio Gatti-Casazza (1869-1940) who was born in Udine, Italy was the beneficiary of extensive education at major universities as well Genoa's Naval School of Engineering. He left the world of engineering, however, to conduct the opera orchestra in Ferrara. From there he went to La Scala Opera House in Milan where he gained such fame that in 1908 New York's Metropolitan Opera House invited him to become manager and director.

He served until 1936, a tenure longer than anyone at the Metropolitan. Gatti-Casazza must be credited with bringing from Italy many Italian singers and conductors who ushered a golden age for the musical medium. Among these was the incomparable Enrico Caruso whose instant acclaim rendered him a legend.

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Source: http://www.iicnewyork.esteri.it/