Carlo Maria Giulini

Born on May 9, 1914, in Apulia and passing away on June 14, 2005, in Brescia, Lombardy, Carlo Maria Giulini epitomized the essence of musical artistry. Combining the lyricism of the Italian tradition with the grandeur of German symphonic repertoire, he achieved a rare and harmonious synthesis of these two musical heritages.

In 1930, he began studying viola and composition at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, later honing his conducting skills under Alfredo Casella at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. As a violist in the Augusteo Orchestra of Rome, he performed under legendary conductors such as Richard Strauss, Bruno Walter, Willem Mengelberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer, Erich Kleiber, and Victor De Sabata — experiences that profoundly shaped the renowned “Giulini sound”, distinguished by its masterful emphasis on inner voices.

A staunch antifascist, Giulini went into hiding during World War II to avoid conscription into the Italian army. In 1944, following the Allied liberation of Rome, he marked the occasion by conducting a celebratory concert with the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Shortly thereafter, he became assistant conductor of the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Rome and was promoted to principal conductor in 1946. In 1950, he founded the RAI Orchestra in Milan, garnering attention from Toscanini and De Sabata, who appointed him principal conductor at La Scala in Milan (1953–1956). Giulini began an incredibly fruitful collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the end of 1955.

In 1955, his legendary production of Verdi’s La traviata, starring Maria Callas and directed by Luchino Visconti, became the stuff of operatic history. Meanwhile, Giulini’s international career flourished with appearances at prestigious festivals (Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Florence) and debuts in the UK and the United States. His recording of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 1959, with the Philharmonia and a stellar cast (Sutherland, Schwarzkopf, Wächter, Taddei) will have a profound impact on the discography of this work; a performance of unrivalled elegance, refinement and expressive power.

In 1968, he withdrew from opera, frustrated by inadequate preparation conditions, and did not return until 1982, when he delivered a luminous Falstaff in Los Angeles. Giulini then shifted his focus entirely to symphonic conducting, serving as principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969–1978), music director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (1973–1976), and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1978–1984).

From the 1980s onward, Giulini concentrated on a select repertoire of major choral and symphonic works: the later symphonies of Bruckner, Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven and Brahms’ symphonies, three symphonies by Schubert, Mozart and Dvořák’s final symphonies, as well as works like Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite and Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye Suite. Music, which he described as both a source of profound suffering and boundless joy, consumed him entirely: “Music has tormented my body and my mind, but it has also brought me great happiness, and I have served it with all my heart,” he told Le Monde in 2004 on his 90th birthday.

Those who knew him musically often remarked on the duality within him: a fierce energy paired with a humanistic quest for hope and spiritual redemption — a quality that increasingly defined his later years.