The Barber of Seville 1823, and became the first opera ever to be performed in Italian in New York, when Manuel Garcia (who played Almaviva) and his Italian troupe opened their first season there with "Il barbiere" on 29 November 1825 at the Park Theatre. The cast of eight had three other members of his family, including the 17-year-old Maria-Felicia, later known as Maria Malibran. The role of Rosina was originally written for a contralto. According to music critic Richard Osborne, writing in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", "it is important to record the degree to which singers have sometimes distorted Rossini’s intentions.
Opera Pacific in the Festival of Opera." The first productions included such traditional repertory as "Madame Butterfly", "The Marriage of Figaro", and "The Barber of Seville"; "I Pagliacci" and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" were presented as a double billing during the 1965 season. In the early 1980s members of the "Opera Leaque", along with other opera aficionados throughout Orange County, combined to form the core audience for the anticipated opening of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in neighboring Costa Mesa, at which time Opera Pacific was incorporated. Opera Pacific has been host to many of opera's greatest living legends, including