Cleofonte Campanini

Cleofonte Campanini (1 September 1860 – 19 December 1919) was an Italian conductor and violinist. As a teenager he had a brief but successful career as a concert violinist in Italy and in theaters in Berlin and London. He abandoned the violin in favor of pursuing a career as a conductor, making his conducting debut in 1880 at the age of 20. He established himself as an opera conductor in Parma in the early 1880s, conducting several works which starred his brother, the tenor Italo Campanini.

In 1883 Campanini was appointed assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera for that company's inaugural season. He went on to establish himself as a leading opera conductor at theaters internationally, notably working on the conducting staffs of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (1888–1903) and La Scala (1903–1905), and appearing as a guest conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Liceu, and the Teatro Colón among other opera houses. From 1906 until March 1909 he was artistic director of the Manhattan Opera Company. In November 1909 he was appointed was appointed the music director of the Chicago Grand Opera Company and then its successor, the Chicago Opera Association. He is remembered for conducting the world premieres of several operas which have become part of the standard opera repertory, including the premieres of Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Lirico in 1902 and Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly at La Scala in 1904. He was married to the soprano Eva Tetrazzini.