Herbert Grossman

His studies were interrupted by World War II, and he served in the United States Navy in the South Pacific from 1944-1946.

In the summers of 1947 and 1948 he was a student of conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center, studying under such greats as Leonard Bernstein, Boris Goldovsky, and Serge Koussevitzky.

He spent the next two years on the musical staff at the Bavarian State Opera and working as an associate conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.

[6] He conducted periodically at the NYCO over the next several years, leading performances of mainly contemporary works like The Medium and The Triumph of St.

He first conducted for the SFO in 1964, leading a production of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah starring Lee Venora in the title role and Richard Cassilly as Sam.

Other operas he conducted at the SFO were Madama Butterfly (1965), The Crucible (1965), Carry Nation (1966), The Turn of the Screw (1966), The Magic Flute (1967), Manon Lescaut (1967), Cavalleria Rusticana (1967), Pagliacci (1967), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1967).

[20][21] In 2009, Grossman married former friend and opera singer Sylvia B. Davis (1935-2022) in a ceremony at West Gilgo Beach, New York.