High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Arturo Toscanini (Italian pronunciation: ; March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory. As music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra he became a household name (especially in the U.S.) through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire.