Alfredo Silipigni (April 9, 1931 – March 25, 2006) was the creator of the

New Jersey State Opera The New Jersey State Opera is an opera company based in Newark, New Jersey. It was established in 1964 as the Opera Theater of Westfield, and shortly after opening Alfredo Silipigni was hired as Artistic Director An artistic director is the e ...

in the 1970s and remained there until his death in 2006. While with the opera company, Silipigni led opera productions throughout North America as lead conductor including ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' and ''

Caterina Cornaro Catherine Cornaro (; or ; ; 25 November 1454 – 10 July 1510) was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus, also holding the titles of Queen of Jerusalem and Queen of Armenia. She became queen consort of Cyprus by marriage to James II of ...

''.

Early life

Silipigni was born in Atlantic City and educated at the Juilliard School and Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Career

For his opera career, Silipigni was part of the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...

in the mid 1950s and played at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. Silipigni started worked with the

when they opened in the 1960s. While with the opera company, Silipigni was a director and lead conductor. Silipigni was known for his talent conducting verismo opera. In 1973 he took the New Jersey State Opera to New York's Carnegie Hall where he conducted the United States' premiere of a long forgotten Donizetti opera, ''Catarina Cornaro''. Silipigni conducted Puccini's Turandot for the NJSOpera's house debut at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark) in February and March 1998. For the 1999 production of Giordano's Fedora in Mexico City, Silipigni worked with

Placido Domingo Placido may refer to: People Surname *José Plácido de Castro (1873–1908), Brazilian soldier and politician *Michele Placido, (born 1946) Italian actor and director * Plácido Vega y Daza, (1830-1878) 19th century Mexican general and politician ...

. Other stars, including Metropolitan Opera singers Licia Albanese and Jerome Hines, often sang in his productions. In October 2002, Silipigni conducted two performances of Verdi's Aida in Shanghai with a cast of 1,500 and audiences of more than 50,000, according to the NJSOpera web site. He also brought in singers based in other parts of the world for rare American appearances. These included Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer, verismo Magda Olivero, and dramatic tenor Nicola Martinucci.

Death

Silipigni died on March 25 at the age of 74 in

Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 31,330, its highest United States census, decennial co ...

. His death was caused by complications of pneumonia.

References

External links

Opera NewsNews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silipigni, Alfredo American male conductors (music) American people of Italian descent 1931 births 2006 deaths Musicians from Atlantic City, New Jersey Musicians from West Orange, New Jersey Juilliard School alumni Music directors (opera) Westminster Choir College alumni Classical musicians from New Jersey 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians Deaths from pneumonia in New Jersey