Opera Scotland

Nino Sanzogno Suggest updates

 

 

Born Venice, 13 April 1911.

Died Milan, 4 May 1983.

Italian conductor and composer.

Nino Sanzogno studied in Venice with Gian Francesco Malipiero and later with Hermann Scherchen. On his 1969 visit to Edinburgh he conducted a double bill of Malipiero’s Sette Canzoni and Dallapiccola’s Prigioniero, a work which Scherchen had premiered in 1950.

He was chief conductor at La Fenice 1938 to 1940 and at La Scala 1962 to 1965. He worked at the Milan house regularly between 1941 and 1972 and led the opening performance at the Piccola Scala in 1955. He conducted with most of the Italian companies and appeared many times at the Verona Arena. His guest appearances abroad included Buenos Aires, Vienna and Moscow. In Milan he was particularly associated with twentieth century works, introducing operas by Stravinsky, Milhaud, Walton, Busoni, Menotti, and Prokofiev. In 1957 he conducted the premiere of Dialogues des Carmélites.

He visited the Edinburgh Festival on three occasions, with companies from Milan (1957), Florence (1969) and Palermo (1972). With the exception of the double bill mentioned above, the works he conducted in Edinburgh represented his other main speciality, the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

He did not make many recordings of opera, but the Piccola Scala production of Cimarosa’s Matrimonio Segreto (which was brought to Edinburgh) was recorded. He also conducted Joan Sutherland’s first recording of Rigoletto.