Italian Americans (founded in 1880), but it was the arrival of impresario Giulio Gatti-Casazza in 1908, who brought with him conductor Arturo Toscanini, that made the Met an internationally known musical organization. Many Italian operatic singers and conductors were invited to perform for American audiences, most notably, tenor Enrico Caruso. The premiere of the opera La Fanciulla del West on December 10, 1910, with conductor Toscanini and tenor Caruso, and with the composer Giacomo Puccini in attendance, was a major international success as well as an historic event for the entire Italian American community. Italian Americans became involved in entertainment and sports.
Mario Lanza: The American Caruso JoAnn Young. The documentary film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1983 as Outstanding Informational Special. Co-Executive Producers were John Musilli, Stephen Chodorov; and JoAnn Young, Producer. Mario Lanza: The American Caruso Mario Lanza: The American Caruso is a 90-minute 1983 PBS documentary, narrated and hosted by Plácido Domingo. It explores the life of tenor Mario Lanza, and includes clips from six of the tenor's eight films, together with interviews with such Lanza associates and contemporaries as Anna Moffo, Kathryn Grayson, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joe Pasternak, and Dorothy Kirsten, Frances Yeend, and the conductor Peter Herman Adler. The film