Esposito, Michele

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Esposito, Michele

Esposito, Michele, Italian composer, pianist, and conductor; b. Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, Sept. 29, 1855; d. Florence, Nov. 23, 1929. He studied at the Cons. San Pietro e Majella at Naples with Cesi (piano) and Serrao (theory). For a time he gave piano concerts in Italy. From 1878 to 1882 he was in Paris, and in 1882 he was engaged as a piano teacher at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. He organized the Dublin Orch. Soc. in 1899 and conducted it until 1914, and again in 1927. He held the honorary degree of Mus.Doc. of Trinity Coll., Dublin. He composed several works on Irish subjects, including the Irish operetta, The Post Bag (London, Jan. 27, 1902), incidental music for The Tinker and the Fairy (Dublin, 1910), Suite of Irish Dances for Orch., 2 Irish rhapsodies, and several arrangements of Irish melodies. He received 1st prizes for his cantata Deirdre (Irish Festival, Dublin, 1897) and Irish Symphony (Irish Festival, Dublin, 1902). His other works include 2 string quartets, 2 violin sonatas, cello sonatas, etc.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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