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",
The Barber of Seville play, "Le Barbier de Séville", had a similar story: poorly received at first, only to become a favorite within a week. The opera was first performed in England on 10 March 1818 at the King's Theatre in London in Italian, soon followed on 13 October at the Covent Garden Theatre by an English version translated by John Fawcett and Daniel Terry. It was first performed in America on 3 May 1819 in English (probably the Covent Garden version) at the Park Theatre in New York. It was given in French at the Théâtre d'Orléans in New Orleans on 4 March