Aprile Millo Special Verdi Prize Award in Barcelona (1979), and the Geraldine Farrar Award (1980). After leaving the San Diego Opera, Millo sang her first major role, the title role of Verdi's "Aida", with Utah Opera in January 1980. She returned to Utah Opera in early 1981 to perform the role of Santuzza in Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana". Millo moved to New York City and auditioned for the New York City Opera where her Father had sung from 1942–1946 and was offered a contract with several roles. The Metropolitan Opera also offered the young singer at 22 years old, to become a member
Mala Pasqua! his attention to composing his first opera, "Fatma", an opera-ballet in four acts. However, he set the project aside in 1888 when the music publisher Sonzogno announced a competition for one-act operas, open to all young Italian composers who had not yet had an opera performed on stage. The three winners (selected by a jury of prominent critics and composers) would be staged in Rome at Sonzogno's expense. Gastaldon decided to enter with an opera based on "Cavalleria rusticana". His librettist, Giovanni Domenico Bartocci-Fontana, a lawyer by training and a poet by inclination, wrote to Verga asking permission to adapt