Carol Fox (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, June 15, 1926 – July 21, 1981) was, at the age of 28, the first impresario of the

Chicago Lyric Opera Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria C ...

and credited with restoring Chicago's pre-Depression operatic glory. Carol was the only child of a wealthy Chicago furniture manufacturer. Her enthusiasm for opera showed itself when she returned home from study in Europe in 1950. With Lawrence Kelly, also aged 28, a real estate agent and insurance broker, and the conductor

Nicola Rescigno Nicola Rescigno (May 28, 1916 – August 4, 2008) was an Italian-American conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera repertory. ''Opera News'' said that "Rescigno was a seminal figure in the history of opera in America, a maestro ...

she organized the rebirth of a resident opera company at the

Chicago Civic Opera The Civic Opera Company (1922–1931) was a Chicago company that produced seven seasons of grand opera in the Auditorium Theatre from 1922 to 1928, and three seasons at its own Civic Opera House from 1929 to 1931 before falling victim to financia ...

building. In 1958 she engaged Pino Donati from Italy as her assistant and artistic director - a function in which he continued till his death in 1975.''Theatre arts'', Volume 43, 1959: "She engaged Pino Donati, an Italian who was described as an artistic director well known in European theatres. That may well be true, but Mr. Donati arrived in Chicago as "musical assistant to the general manager." Enough said." Fox was ousted from the board of the opera in 1981 and died shortly afterwards.

References

1926 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen {{opera-bio-stub