11 Facts About Antonia Brico

Antonia Louisa Brico was a Dutch-born conductor and pianist.

At the University of California, Berkeley, Brico worked as an assistant to the director of the San Francisco Opera.

In 1927, Antonia Brico entered the Berlin State Academy of Music and in 1929 graduated from its master class in conducting, the first American to do so.

In July 1938, Antonia Brico was the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic, and in 1939 conducted the Federal Orchestra in concerts at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Antonia Brico conducted the Denver Businessmen's Orchestra, which in 1968 became the Brico Symphony Orchestra, and in 1948 she became conductor of the Denver Community Symphony.

Antonia Brico taught piano or conducting to such students as Judy Collins, Donald Loach, James Erb and Karlos Moser.

Antonia Brico has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras around the world, including the Japan Women's Symphony.

Antonia Brico died in 1989 after a long illness at the age of 87.

Antonia Brico had lived at the Bella Vita Towers, a nursing home in Denver since 1988.

Antonia Brico was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.

Dutch director Maria Peters' movie De Dirigent about the life of Brico, starring Christanne de Bruijn as Antonia Brico, was released in 2018.