Gerald Finley Papageno, Figaro, the Count and Don Giovanni. He made his New York City debut at the Metropolitan Opera on January 24, 1998 in the role of Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte". He has subsequently performed the title role of "Don Giovanni", Marcello in Puccini's "La bohème", and the title role of "Rossini"'s "Guillaume Tell" at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to his success with Mozart, Finley has been active in contemporary opera. He has created a number of roles including J. Robert Oppenheimer in the world premiere of John Adams' opera "Doctor Atomic" at the San Francisco Opera on October 1,
Mozart and dance eighteenth-century composers were expected to be adept at producing both 'popular' and 'serious' music, and that there was no categorical difference between the two.". Abert (2007) wrote, "the most striking aspect of these dances is their almost literally inexhaustible fund of invention. Although their form offers only limited scope for experimentation, each dance differs from the others." Lindmayr-Brandl (2006) writes that "[the dances] that are accessible today, brought to life in the concert hall or in recordings, represent a precious treasure, the immediate expression of the joy of life." Mozart included a substantial ballet at the end of his opera