Opera for the Young Opera for the Young Opera for the Young is a professional, touring opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1970, it brings professional opera programs to elementary schools throughout the Midwest during its spring and fall tours. With nearly 200 performances, reaching approximately 70,000 children annually, Opera for the Young can be counted among the largest opera outreach programs in the nation. Opera for the Young’s repertoire include age appropriate adaptations of Gretry's "Beauty and the Beast", Massenet's "Cinderella", Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", Dvořák's "Rusalka", Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel", Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love",
Palmo's Opera House the Vicomte de Serval. The company went on to present the first opera by Giuseppe Verdi ever staged in the United States, "I Lombardi alla prima crociata" on March 3, 1847. Other operas staged that year at Palmo's included the New York premiere of "Lucrezia Borgia" and another staging of "The Barber of Seville". Despite making some notable achievements, the Sanquirico-Patti Opera company did not fare well financially against a new opera rival in the city, the touring Havana Opera Company, partly due to the much nicer accommodations and better production value at the Park Theatre where the Havana company