Carlo Felice Cillario
1915 – 2007
Carlo Felice Cillario was Argentinian born of Italian descent.
Originally planning to become a violinist a wrist injury led him to take up conducting instead. In 1946 his career took off in the major opera houses of Italy but it was in 1962 that his international reputation took off when he conducted at Glyndebourne and in the USA.
In 1964 upon Maria Callas’s request he conducted the now famous Tosca performances at Covent Garden with Callas & Tito Gobbi. (pic bottom of home page). More performances in the USA followed and in later years he became the preferred conductor of Spanish Diva, Montserrat Caballe.
With a reputation for being “a most genial colleague and a singers’ conductor” Carlo Felice Cillario spent most of his latter professional years performing with The Australian Opera (now Opera Australia).
He died at his home in Bologna in 2007.
