giorgiopolacco

Mary Garden, 1874-1967. Scottish/American Operatic Soprano and Giorgio Polacco, 1873-1960, Italian opera conductor, aboard the RMS Aquitania on their way to shake up the Chicago Opera scene. from his allmusic.com bio . . .

After that first Chicago season, engagements in France, Cuba, and South America kept the conductor busy until Mary Garden called him in 1921 to become music director and principal conductor of the Chicago Opera, reorganized as the Chicago Civic Opera. Working with the tempestuous Garden, Polacco -- despite several voluble conflicts with his "directa" -- filled the position more than honorably. From the November 14, 1921, production of Samson et Dalila through the time of his retirement for health reasons in 1930, the conductor concentrated on his work in Chicago, conducting just one year (1927) in Boston. During his Chicago tenure, Polacco confirmed his outstanding grasp of a wide-ranging repertory and an unflagging ability to light fires under nearly any cast. He often conducted Garden, notably in her French repertory and in Strauss' Salome. Polacco's final Chicago performance found him leading Garden's Mélisande on February 1, 1930.

For more on Garden see

They arrived on October 21, 1921, s. The New York herald. [volume], October 22, 1921, Page 9 (photo) chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045774/1921-10-22/ed-...

Perhaps related to the August 16, 1919 performance at Sheepshead Bay Speedway described in Musical Courier books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&pg=RA8-PA33&am... The New-York Tribune., August 03, 1919, Page 6, Image 36 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-08-03/ed-... announces a performance at the same location for Sunday August 10, 1919. So perhaps there several open air performances that summer. NO -- According to the New-York Tribune., August 10, 1919, Page 7, Image 39 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-08-10/ed-... the "mammoth open air performance of Aida" was postponed from August 10 to August 16 because of the Brooklyn Car Strike.

"At the Base of the Sheepshead Bay Sphinx"

(L-R) Luigi Albertieri (stage manager), Andrés De Segurola (principal bass and co-artistic director), Giorgio Polacco (Maestro), Princess Della Pattra (principal dancer), Manuel Salazar (principal tenor), Riccardo Stracciari (principal baritone), Fortune Gallo (co-artistic director) –based on caption from Musical Courier, August 21, 1919 p18

a negative review in the New York Tribune, August 24, 1919: "Racetrack opera is undoubtedly good for the health, that is except for the health of the singers, and the social benefits may also be many. Artistically it is hopeless. When the Metropolitan Opera House, which seats a little more than 3,000, is really too large for the finest artistic results, what will we say for an arena which seats ten times that number? " chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-08-24/ed-...

Art Siegel, that was an informative read -- I was expecting something else. (Grenville Vernon was the art critic for The New York Tribune and an author of several books on the performing arts.)