Bonaventura, Mario di

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Bonaventura, Mario di

Bonaventura, Mario di, American conductor, music educator, and music publisher, brother of Anthony di Bonaventura; b. Follansbee, W.Va., Feb. 20, 1924. He studied violin, was a pupil in composition in Paris of Boulanger (1947–53), and in conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum and in Paris of Markevitch; received instruction in piano accompaniment at the Paris Cons., and won the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize in composition (1953). He was music director of the Ft. Lauderdale Sym. Orch. (1959–62); then taught at Dartmouth Coll. (1962–74), where he served as director of its Congregation of the Arts, a summer contemporary music festival (1963–70). After serving as vice-president and director of publications at G. Schirmer/ Associated Music Publishers, N.Y. (1974–79), he was director of the Boston Univ. School of Music (1980–82).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire