- Italian conductor who studied the viola and composition at the Accademia di S Cecilia, Rome. He won awards from the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and the International Mahler and Bruckner Societies, received the first Verdi Medal from the London Amici di Verdi in 1988, and in 1990 the Medal of Honour from the City of Vienna.
- Music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1978-1984.
- In 1928, the distinguished Italian violinist/composer Remy Principe (1889-1977) gave a recital in Bolzano, and auditioned Giulini; he invited Giulini to study with him at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. Giulini undertook his studies there two years later, at the age of 16. He studied viola with Principe, composition with Alessandro Bustini (1876-1970), and conducting with Bernardino Molinari.
- As the war was ending, he hid until the liberation to avoid continuing to fight alongside the Germans. While in hiding, he married his girlfriend, Marcella, and they remained together until her death in 1995.
- He was music director of the Vienna Symphony from 1973 to 1976. From 1978 to 1984, he served as principal conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, launching his tenure there with performances of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. In 1982 he returned once more to opera, conducting a widely acclaimed production of Verdi's Falstaff with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
- Giulini conducted his first opera at La Scala, Falla's La vida breve, in February 1952 and succeeded De Sabata as its music director in 1953 after a heart attack caused the older man to leave the position. In his five years in the position, Giulini conducted 13 productions, which included: three marking the operatic debut of the producer Franco Zeffirelli, L'Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola and L'elisir d'amore; and Gluck's Alceste and a La traviata with Maria Callas, the latter in a superb production by Luchino Visconti.
- His relationships with opera managements were not always of the best: The Telegraph reported that "he rebelled against the decor and production of a Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh Festival, conducting it with a minimum of scenery; and in 1968, after a production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Rome, he became so disenchanted with the management of opera that he was not seen in an opera house for 14 years.".
- After the 1944 liberation, he was invited to lead what was then known as the Augusteo Orchestra (now the Santa Cecilia Orchestra) in its first post-Fascist concert, and quickly other conducting opportunities came along. These included some of the world's major orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic.
- For Christmas in 1919, when he was five, Giulini was given a violin and he progressed rapidly with local instructors, notably a Bohemian violinist (and local pharmacist) whom he called "Brahms.".
- Among the guest conductors he played under were Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Victor de Sabata, Fritz Reiner, Pierre Monteux, Igor Stravinsky, and Otto Klemperer.
- His UK debut took place at the 1955 Edinburgh Festival conducting Verdi's Falstaff for the Glyndebourne Opera company when it toured to that city.
- From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome at the age of 16.
- His live recording of Britten's War Requiem made in the Royal Albert Hall in 1969 which is available as a BBC Legends recording was a Gramophone Award winner.
- His first public performance was the First Symphony of Brahms under Walter. Giulini told interviewers that he loved the gentle manner of Bruno Walter, who he said had a gift for making every musician feel important.
- Though highly admired at La Scala, he resigned after members of the audience jeered Maria Callas during a run of operas from 16 February to 27 April 1956.
- His work in Bergamo came to the attention of Arturo Toscanini, who asked to meet the young conductor, and the two men formed a deep bond. Toscanini recommended Giulini for the musical directorship at La Scala; Giulini had also won the attention and support of Victor de Sabata, the principal conductor of La Scala, who engaged him as his assistant.
- At the age of 18, in order to supplement his family's income (which had been depleted by the Great Depression), he auditioned for the viola section of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, at the time Italy's foremost orchestra. He recalled crying for joy when informed that he had won the audition and would be the orchestra's last-desk violist.
- Although Giulini conducted La traviata for Italian radio in 1948, he conducted his first staged opera in 1950 in Bergamo. It was La traviata and he returned the following year, this time with Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi alternating in the role of Violetta.
- His career spanned 54 years with retirement coming in 1998.
- He studied the viola and conducting; then, following an audition, he won a place in the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Although he won a conducting competition two years later, he was unable to take advantage of the prize, which was the opportunity to conduct, because of being forced to join the army during World War II despite being a pacifist.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content