William Matteuzzi tutte"), Vincenzo Bellini ("I Puritani" and "La Sonnambula"), Gaetano Donizetti ("La fille du régiment") and Giovanni Pacini ("L’ultimo giorno di Pompei"). A highly respected Rossini specialist, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1988 as Count Almaviva in "Il barbiere di Siviglia". He has performed Rossini's comic operas "La scala di seta", "L'occasione fa il ladro", "L'italiana in Algeri", "La gazza ladra", "La Cenerentola", "La pietra del paragone", "Il viaggio a Reims", "Le comte Ory" as well as his "opere serie" "Otello", "Zelmira, Armida", "Ricciardo e Zoraide", "Maometto II", "Semiramide", etc. He now mainly dedicates himself to teaching singing and
La fille du régiment beautiful and worthy for the cordial hospitality which France offers him in all her theatres, subsidized or not." Despite its bumpy start, the opera soon became hugely popular at the Opéra-Comique. During its first 80 years, it reached its 500th performance at the theatre in 1871 and its 1,000th in 1908. The opera was first performed in Italy at La Scala, Milan, on 3 October 1840, in Italian with recitatives by Donizetti replacing the spoken dialogue. It was thought "worthless" and received only six performances. It was not until 1928 when Toti Dal Monte sang Marie that the opera began