Giorgio M. Sulli

Giorgio Mario Sulli (23 February 1864 – 18 March 1918) was an Italian-born American voice teacher, conductor, and composer. Trained at the Naples Conservatory, he had an active international career as an opera conductor from 1884 until 1894. After this he primarily worked as a voice teacher. In 1905 he relocated to the United States where he was active as a voice teacher and church musician in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. He taught several well known opera singers. He died in New York City in 1918.

Life and career

The son of Giovanni Sulli and Carolina Sulli (nee Firaux), Giorgio Mario Sulli was born on 23 February 1864 in Palermo, Italy. He was appointed Alphonso Guercia's assistant at the NC in 1880; and from him learned how to work as a vocal coach. Notable singers who studied with him either in Italy or New York included sopranos Carmen Melis, and Clara Clemens (daughter of Mark Twain); tenor Umberto Sorrentino;

From 1905 until 1909 he served as choirmaster of St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church at 29 Wooster Pl and 234 Greene Street in New Haven, Connecticut. He later worked in the same capacity at Labor Temple in New York City from 1914 until 1916; a Presbyterian Church located at 242 East 14th Street.

His compositional output included art songs, a cantata, and works for solo piano. He also composed one opera, Dhalma; selections from which were given frequently during his lifetime in symphony concerts. The cause of death was heart failure. He had one child with his first wife, the singer Vittoria Petrilli. He married his second wife, Margaret J. Penn, in 1913. His second wife was also a singer, and she continued to teach singing out of Sulli's studio in New York after his death.