Nicola Rescigno, Who Helped Found Opera Companies in Chicago and Dallas, Dies at 92 (Published 2008)

Nicola Rescigno, a conductor who seized advantage of a new interest in opera after World War II and helped found two major American opera companies, died on Monday in Viterbo, Italy. He was 92.

He died in a hospital awaiting surgery after falling and breaking his femur about a week ago, Jeanne Rescigno, wife of the conductor Joseph Rescigno, Nicola’s nephew, said.

Mr. Rescigno (pronounced resh-EEN-yo) was a favorite conductor of Maria Callas, conducting her American debut in 1954 at what was then the Chicago Lyric Theater, which he helped found. His performances included the United States debuts of Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Jon Vickers, Montserrat Caballé and Magda Olivero at the Dallas Opera, which he also helped start.

He conducted several world and American premiers of significant operas and appeared at many of the world’s major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, at which he led at least four operas.

Nicola Rescigno was born in Manhattan on May 28, 1916. His father was a trumpeter at the Met for 30 years and played briefly at the New York Philharmonic. Nicola was educated at an Italian boarding school and earned a law degree from Sapienza University in Rome. He returned to New York and studied at the Juilliard School.

He made his debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the Salmaggi Company, which produced quality opera at popular prices. At 27 Mr. Rescigno began conducting for the San Carlo Opera, a touring company, as well as conducting operatic music with various orchestras in Central Park and other places in the New York region.

“Since American conductors for opera were practically unknown at the time, young Rescigno was something of a novelty,” Ronald L. Davis wrote in “La Scala West: The Dallas Opera Under Kelly and Rescigno” (2000).

Mr. Rescigno joined with Lawrence V. Kelly and Carol Fox to form the Lyric Theater of Chicago in 1952. The idea was to bring grand opera back to Chicago, restoring a tradition that had been interrupted by World War II.

The first performance was in 1954, with Ms. Callas making her American debut in Bellini’s “Norma.” A New York Times review said Mr. Rescigno, then 37, “at last seems to be on his way to the status he has earned with excellent work in less splendid circumstances.”

In 1956 Mr. Rescigno demanded veto power over all artistic decisions, leading to a fight for control between him and Mr. Kelly, on one side, and Ms. Fox on the other. The men ended up resigning. The Lyric Theater was dissolved and reorganized, renamed the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Mr. Kelly and Mr. Rescigno resurfaced in Dallas the next year to form the Dallas Civic Opera, which was later renamed the Dallas Opera. It was a time when new opera companies were popping up in the Midwest and Southwest in places like Santa Fe, Tulsa and Omaha, and civic boosters in Dallas were anxious to spend fresh, new wealth on culture.

Ms. Callas agreed to open the first season in Dallas. “I was intrigued by these kids,” she said of Mr. Rescigno and Mr. Kelly, according to The Dallas Morning News in 2003.

That concert was in the music hall on the state fair grounds, which Ms. Sutherland once described as “a made-over airplane hangar.” The next night, Franco Zeffirelli made his United States debut as stage director and set designer for Rossini’s “Italiana in Algeri.”

“For a couple nights running,” Newsweek said, “Dallas, Texas, was the operatic capital of the United States.”

Dallas continued to attract world-famous singers and top-notch directors and designers, in part because of Mr. Rescigno’s voice-friendly baton. In 1981, The New York Times Magazine quoted him as saying: “People think this is cowboy country. They are surprised to find first-rate opera in a corral.”

After Mr. Kelly died in 1974, Mr. Rescigno filled in as general director until 1977. He resigned in 1990 after an artistic dispute with his successor as general director, Plato Karayanis.

Mr. Rescigno is survived by his companion of 40 years, Aldo Marcoaldi; and his sisters Rita Pignatelli and Dolly Di Napoli.