Graciela Rivera year she made her operatic debut as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini at the New Orleans Opera. In December 1951, she became the first Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Lucia in the production of Lucia di Lammermoor. She earned accolades for her performance from critics around the world. In 1953, Rivera was proclaimed "Citizen of the Year" by the City of New York. In 1954 Rivera was featured as a guest singer in Name That Tune, and later that year, at an instance of Your Show of
Elisabetta Manfredini-Guarmani back in Bologna to sing the title role in a revival of Paisiello's "Nina, ossia La pazza per amore" at the Teatro Marsigli. Manfredini-Guarmani first worked with Gioachino Rossini in May 1811, when she sang in Haydn's oratorio "The Seasons". The special performance of the oratorio (sung in Italian as "Le quattro stagioni") was in celebration of the birth of the Napoleon II two months earlier and was conducted from the harpsichord by Rossini. When Rossini wrote his opera "Ciro in Babilonia", he composed the role of Almira specifically for Manfredini-Guarmani's voice. Following its premiere at the Teatro Comunale on