Cesare Sodero

Cesare Sodero (August 2, 1886 – December 16, 1947 ) was an Italian conductor who spent much of his career working in the United States.

Biography Born in Naples, Sodero was the second child of Francesco Sodero and Carolina Bartoli. Sodero studied with Giuseppe Martucci, and graduated from the Naples Conservatory at fourteen. He made his conducting debut at the age of fifteen in 1901. He toured Europe for a short time as a cellist before coming to the United States in 1906 at the invitation of Oscar Hammerstein I. For seven years he directed various American opera companies, among them the Hammerstein's Opera Company, the Aborn Opera Company, and the opera company run by Henry Wilson Savage. Sodero's Met debut, Aida on November 28, was highly successful, and critics praised Sodero's precise, powerful, yet lyrical direction. He worked steadily and successfully with the company until his death.

Sodero also composed music, and wrote one opera during his career. Titled Ombre Russe, it was given its premiere by NBC in 1929; the stage premiere took place in Venice in 1930. He also took part in the Metropolitan Opera Association's American Relief for Italy benefit in 1946, alongside George Szell, Fritz Busch, and Emil Cooper.

Sodero died in New York City in 1947.