Nello Santi

Nello Santi (22 September 1931 – 6 February 2020) was an Italian conductor. He was associated with the Zürich Opera House for six decades, and was a regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He focused on Italian repertoire, especially operas by Verdi and Puccini, in a style following the tradition of Toscanini. He made sound and video recordings of Italian operas, including Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes in 1971; Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re with Anna Moffo, Domingo and Pablo Elvira in 1976; Verdi's I due Foscari in 2000; and Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Zürich in 2006. Santi conducted from memory, and said "I love all of Verdi, but when he composed Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata he was in a profound state of grace."