Music
Aldo Ceccato
born 1934 · conductor
Milan-born conductor who was music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 1977 and added more than 45 works to its repertoire.
- Born
Milan, Italy
age 92- Detroit years
- 1973–1977
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ceccato trained at the Milan conservatory and in Berlin with Sergiu Celibidache, whose assistant he became; he is also the son-in-law of the Italian conductor Victor de Sabata. In 1971 he recorded Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Verdi's La traviata with Beverly Sills, and two years later he succeeded Sixten Ehrling as music director of the Detroit Symphony. His four seasons, played at the riverfront Ford Auditorium and in summer at Meadow Brook, were a period of repertoire building rather than recording: the orchestra credits him with introducing more than 45 works, while he made no commercial records with it. He handed the orchestra to Antal Doráti in 1977. Ceccato went on to lead the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway and orchestras in Madrid, Málaga and Milan.
Highlights
- Music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 1973–1977
- Introduced more than 45 works into the DSO repertoire
- Assistant to Sergiu Celibidache; son-in-law of Victor de Sabata
- Later music director in Hamburg and Bergen
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1973–1977
Ford Auditorium
Demolished · 1956–2011
The DSO's riverfront home during Ceccato's four seasons; demolished in 2011.