Guadagno, Anton

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Guadagno, Anton

Guadagno, Anton, Italian-born American conductor; b. Castellammare del Golfo, May 2, 1925. He studied at the Palermo Cons.; after obtaining degrees in conducting and composition at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, he took 1st prize in conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum; his principal conducting mentors were Ferrara, Molinari, C. Zecchi, and Karajan. Following engagements in Italy and South America, he emi-grated to the U.S. and became a naturalized American citizen. In 1952 he made his U.S. debut conducting at a Carnegie Hall concert in N.Y. In 1958-59 he was an asst. conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. From 1966 to 1972 he was music administrator of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera. In 1970 he made his London debut conducting Andrea Chenier at Drury Lane, and returned to London in 1971 to make his debut at Covent Garden conducting Un ballo in maschera. On Nov. 9, 1982, he made his formal debut at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. conducting the latter opera. He was artistic director of the Palm Beach (Fla.) Opera from 1984.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire