Rescigno, Nicola (1916–2008)

US conductor. After study in Rome he conducted in New York from 1943. He was co-founder and artistic director of the Chicago Lyric Opera 1954–46 – he conducted the US debut of Maria Callas, as Norma, in 1954 – and co-founder and artistic director of the Dallas Opera 1957–92, presiding over the US debuts of Placido Domingo, Joan Sutherland, and Montserrat Caballé. He led the US major house premieres of Monteverdi's Poppea and Handel's Alcina, Giulio Cesare, and Samson. He has guested in San Francisco, Washington DC, Houston, New York (Traviata and L'elisir d'amore at the Metropolitan Opera House), and Rome (Werther and Aïda, 1990). He led the first performance of Argento's Aspern papers (Dallas, 1988).