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Giuseppe Patanè was a leading conductor of the middle years of the 20th century, particularly well known for his work in opera.

His father was also a conductor, Franco Patanè (1908-1968), who introduced his son to music. Giuseppe studied piano and conducting at the Conservatorio San Pietro à Majella in Naples. While there, he was chosen at the age of 19 to conduct a performance of La Traviata at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples.

He began a typical apprenticeship for a European operatic conductor, serving as a repetiteur and assistant conductor (1951-1956) then moved to become principal conductor in a smaller provincial theater, the Linz Landestheater, in 1961. In the meantime, he began making guest conducting appearances in several European cities.

Successful fulfillment of a leadership role in a small part typically leads to engagement on the conducting staff of a major house in the standard conductors' career path, and in Patanè's case this was as a resident conductor at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (1962-1968).

He made his conducting debut at La Scala in 1969 in Rigoletto and debuted at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1973 in La forza del destino. He also conducted frequently at the Vienna State Opera, Copenhagen, and San Francisco. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1978.

While best known for opera, he also was highly respected as an orchestral conductor and was co-principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York from 1982 to 1984, chief conductor of the Mannheim National Theater (1984 - 1987), and chief conductor of the Munich Radio Orchestra in 1988. He died suddenly while conducting a performance of Il barbieri di Siviglia at the Bavarian State Opera.

He recorded several operas in the Italian repertory, particularly by Puccini, and several symphonic performances. His style was brilliant, energetic, with a tense, tight line reminiscent of Toscanini. He is particularly known for recordings in which he accompanied soprano Maria Callas.

Edita Gruberová was a coloratura soprano, best known for her performances of Mozart and Strauss operas, but also strongly identified with the bel canto revival. She studied in her hometown of Bratislava, and then in Vienna and Prague, finally making her professional debut as Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville at the Slovak National Theater in 1968. An engagement to sing Mozart's Queen of the Night with the Vienna State Opera in 1970 was pivotal in establishing her career. She joined the company as a regular member in 1972, and before long she had made successful debuts at Glyndebourne (1973), the Salzburg Festival (1974, as Thibault in Verdi's Don Carlo with Karajan), and the Metropolitan Opera (1977, again as Mozart's Queen). During the late 1970s and early 1980s she debuted at many of the world's other major houses, including Covent Garden, La Scala, and the Chicago Lyric, but her schedule remained focused around the houses of central Europe -- a trend that continued throughout her career. Gruberová pursued a full schedule of operatic and concert appearances well into the 2000s.

Other Mozart roles that Gruberová was strongly associated with included Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and, somewhat surprisingly, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni -- a more lyrical role that lacked the high-flying coloratura that was usually her calling card. Her performances of Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos were considered among the best ever heard. Among the bel canto operas, Donizetti's Lucia and Anna Bolena, Rossini's Semiramide, and Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi figured prominently in her success. Edita Gruberová died on October 18, 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland. She was 74 years old.