The Barber of Seville "Il bacio", the Bolero from Verdi's "I vespri siciliani", the Shadow Song from Meyerbeer's "Dinorah", and Henry Bishop's "Home! Sweet Home!". Nellie Melba followed suit, accompanying herself on the piano in the final song. Pauline Viardot began the practice of inserting Alexander Alyabyev's "Nightingale". Maria Callas sang a cut-down version of Rossini's own "Contro un cor." Once after Patti had sung a particularly florid rendition of the opera's legitimate aria, 'Una voce poco fa', Rossini is reported to have asked her: "Very nice, my dear, and who wrote the piece you have just performed?" The piece is a staple of
Victoria State Opera rivalled those of the Australian Opera given in the same space. At its height, the VSO had over 13,000 season subscribers. In 1985 Brian Stacey was appointed as Head of Music. Other notable production highlights include appearances by Suzanne Steele, most notably in the lead role of "La belle Hélène" and as Eurydice in "Orpheus in the Underworld". There were also "Don Giovanni", "Tannhäuser", "The Pearl Fishers" (which toured to Sydney), "The Tales of Hoffmann", "Faust", "Aida", "Il trovatore", "The Barber of Seville", "The Magic Flute", "Andrea Chénier", "Turandot", "Madama Butterfly" (the traditional production by Andrew Sinclair or the Ken