Guido Cantelli

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Guido Cantelli (April 27 1920 – November 24 1956) was an Italian orchestral conductor

Born in Novara, Italy, Cantelli was named Musical Director of La Scala, Milan on November 16, 1956, but died one week later. His promising career was tragically cut short by his death at the age of 36 in an airplane crash in Paris, France. In the course of his brief career, he had conducted not only in many of the most famous houses of Europe but also in the United States and South Africa as well.

Arturo Toscanini was particularly impressed by him, and he wrote in a note to Cantelli's wife Iris in 1950, after four concerts of Cantelli as guest conductor with the NBC Symphony Orchestra:

I am happy and moved to inform you of Guido's great success and that I introduced him to my orchestra, which loves him as I do. This is the first time in my long career that I have met a young man so gifted. He will go far, very far. 1

Toscanini, who died less than two months after Cantelli's plane crash, was never told of Cantelli's death.

Cantelli left a small but valuable legacy of recordings. Among them are recordings of Beethoven's 7th symphony, Brahms 1st and 3rd symphonies, Franck's D minor symphony, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", and shorter pieces by Ravel, Rossini, and others. His one surviving opera performance is of Così fan tutte, from La Scala in 1956. The Franck and Beethoven 7th are among his few stereo recordings. In recent years, many performances from broadcasts with the NBC Symphony have been made available.