Tuesday, July 7, 8911

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)


Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)


Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951)

Gian Carlo Menotti (July 7, 1911 - February 1, 2007) was an Italian-born American composer and librettist who wrote the classic Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular taste. He won the Pulitzer Prize for two of them, The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955). He founded the noted Festival dei due mondi (Festival of the Two Worlds) in 1958 and its American counterpart, Spoleto Festival USA, in 1977.

[8912 Cage / 8911 Menotti / 8911 Joe Turner]