Merola directed the company and conducted many performancesfor 30 years from its opening night in September 1923 until his death in August1953.

He literally died doing what he loved, collapsing in the orchestrapit while conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra during a concert atan outdoor amphitheatre in the city.

The son of a violinist at theRoyal Courtin Naples, Merola studiedpiano and conducting at theConservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples, graduatingwith honours at the age of 16.

Three years later he was invited to New York to work as assistanttoLuigi Mancinelli, another Italian emigrant, born inOrvieto, who was a notedcomposer and cellist who was lead conductor of theNew York Metropolitan Opera.

Demand for his services grew and he made regular guest appearanceswith companies across America and beyond, including a stint at OscarHammerstein’s London Opera House on the site of what is now the Peacock Theatrein Holborn.

He became a regular visitor to San Francisco withFortuneGallo’s San Carlo Opera Company – named after the Naples opera house – and itwas after becoming acquainted with many opera enthusiasts there that he identifiedthe city as potentially one to rival New York as a centre that could attractthe world’s top stars.

Merola noted how much the city was prepared to pay to havesuch illustrious companies as the Chicago Opera and the Scotti Company as wellas the San Carlo to perform there and determined that he would be the man to giveSan Francisco its own company and make it as prestigious as any across thecountry.

Invited to make his home there by a philanthropic patron ofthe arts who set Merola and his wife up in an apartment, he immersed himself inthe city’s large Italian community, where there was much enthusiasm about his ambition to bring the world's finest opera stars to the city.

When, in 1922, he hit upon the idea of a two-week season ofopen air concerts at Stanford Stadium, where he had noted during a footballgame how much the half-time marching band benefitted from the venue’s acoustics,they were all for it and there was no shortage of businessmen and wealthyprofessionals from the community willing to offer financial support, investingbetween $500 and $1,000 each in the venture.

Merola signed up many stars of the day, including theItalian tenorGiovanni Martinelli, the American soprano Bianca Soraya and theSpanish baritone Vincente Ballester. The audiences were large and enthusiastic,rising from around 6,000 for the opening performance ofI Pagliaccito 10,000forFaust on the closing night.

Yet it made no money. Indeed, once the costs were reckoned up, Merola had to tell his backersthey were liable to a $19,000 shortfall.  He feared his dream was over untilGiulioStradi, a produce retailer who was one of the bigger investors, spoke up forthe rest of the group by putting an arm round Merola’s shoulder and telling himthe experience had been worth every penny.

They paid his dues in full and encouraged him to pursueanother funding scheme, this time not relying on the largesse of a small numberof wealthy patrons but by finding 750 individuals willing to pay $100 each, whichincluded a $50 season ticket.

In the event, Merola attracted more than 2,400 investors andcomfortably hit his funding target. His San Francisco Opera Company was bornand made its debut at the city’s Civic Auditorium with Martinelli and sopranoQueena Mario starring inPuccini’sLa bohème.

More productions followed, with headline stars includingBeniaminoGigliandGiuseppe de Luca,and by the end of the 1923-24 season he was able topay his investors a dividend.

The San Francisco Opera was now established and itscontinued success in spite of the financial Depression led in 1931 to theconstruction of a permanent home, the grand Palladian-styleWar Memorial OperaHouse,designed by the architect Arthur Brown Jr.  It opened in October 1932 with a performanceof Puccini’sTosca, with the Italian sopranoClaudia Muzio in the title role.

Merola began to wind down in the 1940s, bringing inArturoToscanini’sassistant Kurt Herbert Adler to serve as conductor, choral directorand his deputy.  Merola, meanwhile,continued to use his contacts to attract the biggest names to San Francisco,includingTito Gobbi, Renata TebaldiandMario del Monaco.

After Merola’s death, which came as he conducted an excerpt fromPuccini’sMadama Butterfly at the Sigmund Stern Grove amphitheatre, Adlerestablished in his honour theMerola Opera Program to provide training foryoung singers.

The San Francisco Opera still thrives to this day.  In 2002, when it celebrated its 80^thanniversary, the guests included 98-year-old Louise Dana – the former Louise Stradi,daughter of Giulio, who had helped Merola with the organisation of his firstseason.

TheConservatorio di San Pietro a Majella– often known as theNaples Conservatory – can be found a short distance from Piazza Dante in the centreof Naples. Along with the adjacent church, it is part of the former San Pietroa Majella monastic complex, built at the end of the 13th century. Theconservatory houses an impressive library of manuscripts giving an insight intothe life and work of many great composers who spent time there, including Scarlatti,Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. The museum has a displayof rare antique musical instruments.

TheTeatro di San Carlo,the opera house of Naples, wasopened in 1737 after the Bourbon king Charles III of Naples commissioned itsconstruction as a replacement for the small and somewhat dilapidated Teatro SanBartolomeo, which was no longer big enough to satisfy demand in the city after thepopular composerAlessandro Scarlattihad decided to base himself there and wasestablishing Naples as a major centre for opera.  Although it was partly destroyed by a fire in1816, the theatre was rebuilt on the orders of Charles III’s son, King FerdinandIV, and is regarded as the oldest continuously active public venue for opera inthe world, predating Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and Venice’s Fenice by severaldecades.