IC 76003 Booklet - Ivory Classics

Mitropoulos, Grofe, Ormandy, Sargent, Dorati, Maazel, Solti, Copland,
and Schippers. Additionally, Earl Wild has performed with violinists:
Mischa Elman, Oscar Shumsky, Ruggerio Ricci, Mischa Mischakoff, and
Joseph Gingold; violists: William Primrose and Emanuel Vardi; cellists:
Leonard Rose, Harvey Shapiro, and Frank Miller; and singers: Maria
Callas, Jenny Tourel, Lily Pons, Marguerite Matzenauer, Dorothy Maynor,
Lauritz Melchior, Robert Merrill, Mario Lanza, Jan Peerce, Zinka Milanov,
Grace Bumbry, and Evelyne Lear.
Highlights include a March 1974 joint recital with Maria Callas as a
benefit for the Dallas Opera Company and a duo recital with famed
mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel in New York City in 1975.
In 1960, at the Santa Fe Opera, Earl Wild conducted the first seven
performances of Verdi’s La Traviata ever performed in that Theatre, as well
as conducting four performances of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi on a double
bill with Igor Stravinsky (who conducted his own opera Oedipus Rex).
From 1952 to 1956 Mr. Wild worked with comedian Sid Caesar on
the very popular TV program The Caesar Hour. During those years, he
composed and performed all the solo piano backgrounds in the silent
movie skits. He also composed most of the musical parodies and burlesques
on operas that were so innovative that they have now become
gems of early live television.
In 1986 Mr. Wild was asked to participate in a television documentary
titled, “Wild about Liszt,” which was filmed at Wynyard, the Marques of
Londonderry’s family estate in Northern England. The program won the
– 15 –