Patanè, Giuseppe
Patanè, Giuseppe
Patanè, Giuseppe, Italian conductor; b. Naples, Jan. 1, 1932; d. (fatally stricken while conducting II Barbiere di Siviglia at the Bavarian State Opera) Munich, May 30,1989. He was a son of Franco Patane (1908–68), a conductor. He studied at the Cons. S. Pietro a Majella in Naples and made his debut as a conductor at the age of 19, when he led a performance of La Traviata at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples. He was subsequently 2ndconductor at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (1951–56); became principal conductor of the Linz Landestheater in 1961, and in 1962 to 1968 was a conductor of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; he further filled engagements at La Scala in Milan, at the Vienna State Opera, and in Copenhagen. On Oct. 18, 1975, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. conducting La Gioconda. In 1982 he was appointed co-principal conductor of the American Sym. Orch. in N.Y., remaining at this post until 1984; then was chief conductor of the Mannheim National Theater (from 1987) and of the Munich Radio Orch. (from 1988).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire