Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti was born in 1911 in a mountain village in northern Italy. He began composing at age five and had written his first opera before he was eleven. As a little boy, he was miraculously cured of lameness by a pilgrimage to the nearby Sactuary of Sacro Monte. This was the genesis for "Amahl and the Night Visitors", the first opera ever commisioned for television. Mr. Menotti is the composer of twenty operas, including "The Consul" and "The Saint of Bleecker Street", both of which...See more

Gian Carlo Menotti was born in 1911 in a mountain village in northern Italy. He began composing at age five and had written his first opera before he was eleven. As a little boy, he was miraculously cured of lameness by a pilgrimage to the nearby Sactuary of Sacro Monte. This was the genesis for "Amahl and the Night Visitors", the first opera ever commisioned for television. Mr. Menotti is the composer of twenty operas, including "The Consul" and "The Saint of Bleecker Street", both of which won Pulitzer Prizes. In 1958, he founded The Festival of Two Worlds, a celebration of the arts in Spoleto, Italy, with counterparts in Charleston, South Carolina, and Melbourne, Australia. For his lifetime achievement in the arts, Mr. Menotti recently recieved the Kennedy Center Honors award. He lives in Scotland. See less