Fausto Cleva (May 17, 1902 – August 6, 1971) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Americanoperaticconductor.
Fausto Cleva was born inTrieste in 1902. After studies at the Conservatorio in his native city andMilan, Cleva made his debut conductingLa traviata inTeatro Carcano, in Milan, before emigrating to the United States in 1920, becoming an American citizen in 1931. He joined the musical staff of theMetropolitan Opera later that year and for twenty years was an assistant conductor and later chorus-master andrépétiteur before making his official conducting debut in February 1942. He later became closely involved withCincinnati Summer Opera, of which he was musical director from 1934 until 1963. From 1944 to 1946 he was music director of the ill-fatedChicago Opera Company. In 1947 he conducted a performance ofLa bohème inHavana, withHjördis Schymberg as Mimi. Following his return to the Metropolitan Opera in 1950, he conducted over 700 performances of thirty operas, mainly from the French and Italian repertory.
His work was marked by great attentiveness to his singers. He conductedRigoletto with theRoyal Swedish Opera at theEdinburgh Festival in 1959. He left some very important recordings, such asLeoncavallo'sPagliacci withRichard Tucker andGiuseppe Valdengo;Catalani'sLa Wally withRenata Tebaldi andMario Del Monaco;Puccini'sTosca withMaria Callas,Franco Corelli andTito Gobbi; andVerdi'sLuisa Miller withAnna Moffo andCarlo Bergonzi. He recorded for a variety of labels, mainly as an accompanist for singers.
He died from aheart attack inAthens while conductingGluck'sOrfeo ed Euridice. He was 69. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery of Trieste, Italy.[1]
