Veltri, Michelangelo

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Veltri, Michelangelo

Veltri, Michelangelo, Argentine conductor; b. Buenos Aires, Aug. 16,1940; d. there, Dec. 18, 1997. He studied at the Buenos Aires Cons, and with Panizza and Votto in Italy. After conducting in South America, he became music director of the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona in 1966. In 1969 he made his first appearance at Milan’s La Scala conducting Don Carlos. On Nov. 10, 1971, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. conducting Rigoletto,returning there regularly in performances of the Italian repertory until 1983. From 1972 to 1977 he was artistic director of the Caracas Festival, and thereafter conducted at the opera houses in Santiago and Rio de Janeiro. He was artistic director of the Avignon Opera from 1983 to 1987. In 1986 he conducted Lucia di Lammermoorat London’s Covent Garden. From 1996 until his death he served as artistic director of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. As a guest conductor, he appeared in Vienna, Berlin, Salzburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Marseilles, Monte Carlo, Turin, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire