Vincent La Selva (September 17, 1929 – October 9, 2017 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

) was an American

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. Born in

, he began performing at the age of 8 and by the age of 12 he was conducting student performances. He received his bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School, where he served on the faculty beginning in 1969. After his graduation from Juilliard, he served in the United States Army where he conducted the First Army band at Fort Jay on

Governor's Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk C ...

. His idea of presenting free productions began in 1954 when he founded the Xavier Symphony Society, made up of volunteer performers. Gian-Carlo Menotti was so taken by La Selva's performance of '' The Saint of Bleecker Street'', that Menotti had La Selva perform the piece at New York's City Opera. This led to his being hired to conduct the City Opera's orchestra full-time.

Founding of the New York Grand Opera Company

La Selva founded the New York Grand Opera Company in 1973. Beginning in 1974, he performed complete operas at no charge to the public in New York City's Central Park. One of the most ambitious projects of the NYGO was the chronological presentation, from 1994 onwards, of all of Verdi's operas, beginning with '' Oberto'' (1839) and ending with ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' in 2000 and with the finale of the series being the Requiem Mass performed on the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death, 27 January 2001, at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. In November 2006, NYGO performed Beethoven's symphony no.9 at the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall with soprano

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, mezzo-soprano Jeeminn Lee, tenor Edward Perretti and baritone

Fredrick Redd Fredrick Redd is an operatic baritone and businessman. He is the vice president of PACO Group, the president and owner of Fredrick Redd Consulting LLC, and the managing partner of Aldebaran Solutions. Redd has performed in concert, opera, musical ...

Other conducting venues

La Selva conducted the

New Jersey Symphony The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concert seri ...

, the Symphony of the Air, the

Juilliard Symphony The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, the

Brno State Philharmonic Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

and the

Bern Symphony Bern () or Berne; in other Swiss languages, gsw, Bärn ; frp, Bèrna ; it, Berna ; rm, Berna is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city" (in german: Bundesstadt, link=no, french: ville fédérale ...

Awards and honors

In 1995 the President of Italy knighted La Selva as a "Cavaliere" in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his performances of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

works. La Selva received the

Handel Medallion The Handel Medallion is an American award presented by the City of New York. It is the city's highest award given to individuals for their contribution to the city's intellectual and cultural life. Establishment The award was first issued in 19 ...

for his contributions to the cultural life of New York City. He was awarded the world record for performing all of Verdi's works in chronological order and ending with the last on the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death.

Notes

External links

New York Grand Opera Company website
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Selva, Vincent 1929 births 2017 deaths American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Musicians from Cleveland