| Gian-carlo Menotti |
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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 . LIFE AND CAREER Born in 's Verdi Conservatory in 1923 . After the death of his father, Menotti and his mother emigrated to the United States, and he enrolled at and Samuel Barber , the latter became Menotti's partner in life and in work, with Menotti crafting the libretto for Barber's most famous opera, '' Vanessa '', which premiered in 1958, at the Metropolitan Opera . As a student, Menotti spent much of his time with the Samuel Barber family in West Chester, Pennsylvania . After graduation, the two men bought a house together in Mount Kisco, New York which they shared for over forty years.http://www.answers.com/topic/gian-carlo-menotti?cat=entertainment It was at Curtis that Menotti wrote his first mature opera, '' Amelia Al Ballo (Amelia Goes to the Ball)'', to his own Italian text. '' The Island God '' (which he suppressed, though its libretto was printed by the Metropolitan Opera and can be found in many libraries) and '' The Last Savage '' were the only other operas he wrote in Italian , the rest being in English . Like Wagner , he wrote the libretti of all his operas. His most successful works were composed in the 1940s and 1950s. Menotti also taught at the Curtis Institute Of Music . In 1958, he founded the and choreographers Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp .'' Time Magazine '', Milestones section, February 19, 2007 issue He left Spoleto USA in 1993 to take the helm of the Rome Opera . In 1974, Menotti adopted his long-time partner , at the foot of Lammermuir in Scotland. In 1984 Menotti was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor for achievement in the arts, and in 1991 he was chosen '' Musical America 's'' "Musician of the Year". In addition to composing operas to his own texts, on his own chosen subject matter, Menotti directed most productions of his work. He and partner Barber for a time lived in a home in Westchester County, New York , called "Capricorn". Menotti died on February 1, 2007 at the age of 95 in a hospital in Monte Carlo , Monaco , where he had a home. He thought it would be "naughty" to die in Monte Carlo. COMPOSITIONS Menotti wrote the libretti for two of Samuel Barber's operas, '' Vanessa '' and '' A Hand Of Bridge '', as well as revising the latter for '' Antony And Cleopatra ''. ''Amelia'' was so successful that NBC commissioned an opera specifically for the new medium of Radio , '' The Old Maid And The Thief '', which was the first such work ever written for, and performed on the radio. Following this, he wrote a Ballet , ''Sebastian'' ( 1944 ), and a piano concerto ( 1945 ) before returning to opera with '' The Medium '' and '' The Telephone, Or L'Amour à Trois ''. His first full-length opera, '''' in 1955. Menotti also wrote several ballets and numerous choral works. Of these, the most notable is his Cantata '' The Death Of The Bishop Of Brindisi '', written in 1963 . He also wrote a Violin concerto, symphonies, and a stage play, ''The Leper''. It was in the field of opera, however, that he made his most notable contributions to American cultural life. CHRONOLOGY
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