Orchestra Conductor. Considered the leading Italian maestro of his generation, he was known for his serene manner and reverence for the great composers, which gave an almost religious quality to his work. Giulini specialized in opera until the 1960s, then turned to the orchestral repertoire. He was principal conductor of La Scala in Milan from 1953 to 1958, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony from 1969 to 1978, music director of the Vienna Symphony from 1973 to 1976, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1978 to 1985. Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, and began playing the violin when he was five. He studied at the Saint Cecilia Academy in Rome and was later violist with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, performing under such conductors as Bruno Walter and Richard Strauss. After serving in the Italian military during the early years of World War II, Giulini was forced to go into hiding for nine months because of his anti-Fascist views. He led the 1945 Rome concert that celebrated the city's liberation by the Allied forces. It was his conducting debut. As assistant director of the Rome Radio Symphony he attracted the attention of the legendary Arturo Toscanini, who helped get him his La Scala appointment. There he became famous for his productions of Verdi ("La Traviata" with Maria Callas) and Mozart ("Don Giovanni," "The Marriage of Figaro"). Giulini then concentrated on the concert podium, though he never abandoned opera completely; he conducted "Figaro" at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968, and "Falstaff" in Los Angeles in 1982. He also made many recordings and his discs of Verdi's "Requiem" and "Four Sacred Pieces" are regarded by many record buffs as definitive. He won a Grammy in 1989. Giulini's repertoire was fairly small because he would only conduct music he could "feel." He explained his approach in a 1994 interview: "I have to believe in every note, to feel myself immersed. If that doesn't happen, mere technique would take the field. The appropriation [of the music] must be rational and emotional, without ever forgetting that the conductor is a musician in the service of the geniuses of music...We are only interpreters." Giulini's wife of 53 years, Marcella, was his devoted companion and unofficial manager. When her health began to fail in 1984, he resigned from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the couple settled at their home in Milan; from then on he made only occasional guest appearances that were no more than a 90-minute plane ride from Italy (mainly in London and Berlin). After Marcella's death in 1995, Giulini retired completely. Ailing from a heart condition in his last years, he refused to listen to music or to discuss the past. On the occasion of his 90th birthday he told a reporter, "At my age, I need to be quiet."