Famed Cincinnati-born conductor and educator David Effron recounts his astounding and, at times, hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from working with some of the top singers of the 20th century. Also, learn what it was like to see opera at the Cincinnati Zoo, about the Cincinnati classical music scene of the mid-1900s, and why the Pulitzer-Prize winning musical Hamilton has caught this opera conductor’s attention!
Show notes
Cincinnati Opera, at the time known as Cincinnati Summer Opera, performed at the Cincinnati Zoo for its first 51 seasons (1920-1972).
Effron recalls a memory of seeing Giacomo Puccini’s grand opera La bohème with Licia Albanese at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Italian-born American conductor Fausto Cleva was the Musical Director of the Cincinnati Summer Opera from 1934 until 1963. He was also Effron’s “first hero.”
Sigmund Effron, David Effron’s father, was the concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1946 to 1973.
George Szell, Music Director and Conductor of the The Cleveland Orchestra, tried to recruit Sigmund Effron to join his symphony.
After a performance of Charles Gonoud’s Faust at Cincinnati Summer Opera, American tenor Eugene Conley honored Sigmund Effron by allowing him to bow by himself (a “solo bow”) due to the skill with which he played the work’s notable violin solo.
Sigmund Effron studied with Robert Perutz, a renowned Polish violinist who was based in Cincinnati.
James Levine is a conductor and accompanist from Cincinnati. He served as the Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera until he was notably terminated in 2018 over sexual assault allegations that he denies.
Josef Blatt was a professor of conducting at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Famed conductor Tibor Kozma allowed David Effron to conduct operas during his graduate study at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Effron tells the story of one unfortunate performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto at New York City Opera featuring soprano Gianna Rolandi, mezzo-soprano Jane Shalos, baritone Richard Fredricks, and an unnamed tenor.
A Hochschule is an institution of higher education within German-speaking countries.
Effron served as the assistant to German conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch at Cologne Opera.
Hugh Thompson and Tito Capobianco were both notable opera directors, though Thompson was better known as a lyric baritone with 238 performances at the Metropolitan Opera.
Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo, and Norman Treigle all performed in a production of Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman at New York City Opera.
Hamilton: An American Musical is a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the life, career, and death of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Musically, it pulls from genres as varied as hip hop, R&B, pop, soul, and traditional show tunes.
Benita Valente is a renowned American soprano from California.
WhatsApp is a mobile application popularly used for text messaging and calling in countries outside of the US.