11.   The Swiss-born conductor Marcello Viotti, recently appointed principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, made his Met debut.

12.   Weingartner was at any rate a dominant figure at the time in Vienna, as principal conductor of both the Vienna Philharmonic and the Volksoper.

13.   Within a few years, Tate had been hired as principal conductor of Covent Garden and director of the venturesome Rotterdam Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra.

14.   Abbado, the nephew of Claudio Abbado, is principal conductor at the Munich radio orchestra.

15.   After brief service in the French army in World War II, he moved to London and was appointed principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

16.   Also, Gall wanted the opera to have a principal conductor instead of a music director.

17.   Before coming to Cincinnati, he was principal conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra and general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

18.   Dohnanyi, a native of Berlin, was chosen principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra of London last fall.

19.   Former Philharmonia principal conductor Riccardo Muti was releasing Alagna from two performances at La Scala in Milan to take part, Whelton said.

20.   Gergiev, also the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and former chief conductor of the Armenian State Orchestra, at first seems an odd fit with the Met.