Giacomo Puccini Because only three "verismo" works by Puccini continue to appear regularly on stage (the aforementioned "Cavalleria rusticana", "Pagliacci", and "Andrea Chénier"), Puccini's contribution has had lasting significance to the genre. Both during his lifetime and in posterity, Puccini's success outstripped other Italian opera composers of his time, and he has been matched in this regard by only a handful of composers in the entire history of opera. Eleven of Puccini's operas are numbered among the 200 most-performed operas (worldwide, by composers of any nationality, as surveyed by Operabase). Three of his works ("La bohème", "Tosca", and "Madama Butterfly") rank among
Ruse Opera and Philharmonic Society Ruse Opera and Philharmonic Society The Ruse Opera and Philharmonic Society is an opera company based in Ruse, Bulgaria, and founded in 1949. It took over the Rousse Opera Society, which had been created in 1914. The new company is one of the oldest state cultural institutions in Bulgaria. With a staff of schooled singers, a choir, the ballet, and the orchestra, there is maturity and the ability to perform a wide range of works. The company's repertoire ranges from the classics (Mozart through Verdi and Puccini to Stravinsky and Shostakovich) and has included 195 different works for the stage,