Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (; 29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as some sacred music, songs, chamber music, and piano pieces. He was a precocious composer of operas, and he made his debut at age 18 with "La cambiale di matrimonio". His best-known operas include the Italian comedies "The Barber of Seville" ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), "The Italian Girl in Algiers" ("L'italiana in Algeri"), and "Cinderella" ("La Cenerentola"). He also wrote a string of serious operas in Italian, including works such as "Tancredi", "Otello", and "Semiramide". "The Thieving
American Opera Society American Opera Society The American Opera Society (AOS) was a New York City based musical organization that presented concert and semi-staged performances of operas between 1951 and 1970. The company was highly influential in sparking and perpetuating the post World War II bel canto revival, particularly through a number of highly lauded productions of rarely heard works by Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. The AOS also presented many operas to the American public for the first time, including the United States premieres of Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd", Giuseppe Verdi's "Giovanna d'Arco", George Frideric Handel's "Hercules" and Hector Berlioz's