Göran Gentele (29 September 1917 – 18 July 1972) was a Swedish actor, director, and opera manager. He was director of the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

from 1963 to 1972 and briefly the general manager of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York City in 1972, until his death in a road accident.

Biography

Born in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Gentele studied from 1944 until 1946 at the

Royal Dramatic Training Academy The Royal Dramatic Training Academy (, also known as ''Dramatens elevskola''), was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years (1787–1964) seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education ...

, beginning a brief career as a film actor not long afterwards. He soon turned to directing, working for a time at the

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

and then at the

, where his more notable productions included

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian-American composer, libretto, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American ...

's ''

The Consul ''The Consul'' is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Performance history Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as t ...

'' and Karl-Birger Blomdahl's '' Aniara''. He became director of the Royal Swedish Opera in 1963. He also directed films during approximately the same period (1947 to 1969), making at least 15 feature films and television movies. His 1951 film '' Leva på 'Hoppet''' was awarded the Silver Bear for comedy at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

.IMDB
Filmography
Accessed April 29, 2016 He succeeded Sir

Rudolf Bing Sir Rudolf Bing, KBE (January 9, 1902 – September 2, 1997) was an Austrian-born British opera impresario who worked in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, including as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City f ...

as director of the

in New York City in 1972. Soon after assuming the post, on 18 July 1972, Gentele died in a car crash while on vacation in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

; he was killed along with two of his daughters when the car in which they were riding collided head-on with a truck. A third daughter was injured, as was Gentele's wife, Marit. Schuyler Chapin, Gentele's assistant, was named acting director almost at once.

Legacy

Despite the fact that he had been in office only a few weeks at his death, several of Gentele's plans for the company were implemented under Chapin. The most notable of these was a new production of

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'' designed for

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Berneice Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient ...

; this was used to open the 1972–1973 season. Gentele was the second general director of the Metropolitan, behind Herbert Witherspoon in 1935, to die before the opening night of his first season as general manager of the company.

Awards

Gentele won the Silver Bear (Comedies) award at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival for his film '' Leva på 'Hoppet'''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentele, Goran 1917 births 1972 deaths Metropolitan Opera people Male actors from Stockholm Swedish opera managers Road incident deaths in Italy Swedish film directors 20th-century Swedish male actors