Vittorio Gui

Vittorio Gui (Rome, 1885 - Florence, 1975) - conductor.

He first studied the piano under his mother, a pupil of Sgambati"s, and took a degree in literature at Rome University in 1906, followed by his diploma in composition in 1907, the year in which he made his debut as a conductor at the Teatro Adriano in Rome with Ponchielli"s Gioconda.
He was immediately invited to conduct Pizzetti"s La Nava (on a text by D"Annunzio) on an Italian tour which brought him a degree of celebrity.
He conducted in the major European opera houses and became resident conductor of the San Carlo in Naples in 1912.

In 1925 he founded the Turin Theatre Orchestra, whilst in 1928 he formed the Florence Orchestra, which led in 1933 to the Florence Maggio Musicale Festival.
A musician with wide-reaching cultural interests and a composer, he was a precise, sensitive performer of Italian 18th and 19th-century opera and of early twentieth-century music.

For many years he was honorary president of the Federation of Entertainment Workers and a member of the Santa Cecilia Academy. He has left us a vast bequest of recordings, including an unforgettable Norma by Bellini, with Gina Cigna, Ebe Stignani and Tancredi Pasero, Aida with Giulietta Simionato and a legendary recording of Cherubini"s Medea with Maria Callas.

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