Anton Coppola

Anton Coppola
Coppola backstage at the Belk Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2001 during a production of Puccini's Turandot which he conducted for Opera Carolina.
Born	(1917-03-21) March 21, 1917 (age 100)
Spouse(s)	Marion Jane Miller (m. 1943) Almerinda Coppola (m. 1950)
Children	Susan Coppola, Lucia Coppola, Bruno Coppola
Relatives	Carmine Coppola (brother)

Antonio "Anton" Coppola (born March 21, 1917) is an American opera conductor and composer. He is the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, as well as the grand-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman, and is the younger brother of American composer and musician Carmine Coppola.

Coppola started his career at the age of eight with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. At the age of 9 he was in the Met's debut of Turandot. He served as an army bandmaster during World War II, conductor at Radio City Music Hall and director of both the Symphony and Opera Departments at the Manhattan School of Music. He earned a bachelor's degree (1964) and a master's degree (1965) in composition from Manhattan School of Music and received honorary Doctorates from the University of Tampa and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

Coppola's first marriage was to Marion Jane Miller, a ballet dancer, with whom he had one child, Susan Marion Coppola (1943–2008). After their divorce, he wed Almarinda Drago, also a ballet dancer, with whom he had two children, Lucia and Bruno Coppola.

He turned 100 in March 2017.

Among his works are a violin concerto, a symphony, and Sacco and Vanzetti, an opera in both Italian and English about immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti. In the 1950s and 1960s, Coppola was the musical director of six Broadway musicals, including , Bravo Giovanni and The Boy Friend. He conducted two film scores, 1990's The Godfather Part III and 1992's Dracula. He appeared in the former, shown conducting Cavalleria rusticana in the Teatro Massimo of Palermo.