Alberto Erede

Alberto Erede (8 November 1909 – 12 April 2001) was an Italian conductor, particularly associated with operatic work. Born in Genoa, Erede studied there before studying at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan, then with Felix Weingartner at Basle, and after this with Fritz Busch at Dresden. He made his debut in Turin in 1935, conducting Der Ring des Nibelungen. He also conducted at the Salzburg Festival. Fritz Busch invited him to Glyndebourne in England in 1934, where he conducted several performances before the war. In 1937 at the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, he led a private performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte where among the audience were Sigmund Freud, Stefan Zweig, Franz Werfel, Weingartner and Oskar Kokoschka.He toured the United States in 1937 and 1938 with the Salzburg International Opera Guild, conducting Cosi fan tutte, L'incoronazione di Poppea and La Cambiale di Matrimonio. While in America he also made his New York concert debut with the NBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted the premiere of Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief in 1939.He spent the war years in Italy conducting both orchestral concerts and opera. Afterwards he took up post as chief conductor of the Turin Radio orchestra, and resumed his connections in England to become music director of the New London Opera Company from 1946–48. From 1950 to 1955 he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, debuting with La traviata (with Dorothy Kirsten). He returned to the Met in 1974 and 1975, his last performance there being Tosca (with Galina Vishnevskaya). From 1956 he was at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf and was the musical director there from 1958 to 1962. At Covent Garden he conducted Il trovatore in 1953 (with Callas), Aida in 1960, and La traviata in 1962 (with Sutherland). He conducted Wagner's Lohengrin at Bayreuth in 1968, being the first Italian to appear there since Arturo Toscanini. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera for the 1974–75 season. On 03-January-1977 he conducted a performance of Puccini's Tosca at the Vienna State Opera. The cast included Leonie Rysanek in the title role, with Placido Domingo as Cavaradossi and Theo Adam as Scarpia. In 1985 he made guest appearances in Sydney with the Australian Opera; a video recording of Puccini's Tosca, with Erede conducting, was made at the Sydney Opera House during that year. He died in Monte Carlo in 2001.