Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was considered by many of his contemporaries — critics, fellow musicians, and the public alike — as the greatest conductor of his era. He was renowned for his brilliant

Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was considered by many of his contemporaries — critics, fellow musicians, and the public alike — as the greatest conductor of his era. He was renowned for his brilliant intensity, his restless perfectionism, his phenomenal ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory which allowed him to correct errors in orchestral parts unnoticed for decades by his colleagues.

Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy and won a scholarship to the local music conservatory, where he studied cello. He joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America. While presenting Aida in Rio de Janeiro in 1886, the orchestra's conductor was booed by the audience and forced to leave the podium. Toscanini successfully took up the baton at the suggestion of other players, and thus began his career as a conductor at age 19.