After 1883, Campanini lived primarily in New York City, serving as the Metropolitan's leading tenor. He developed increasingly a second career as a manager of opera (as, in later times, did the tenors Giovanni Zenatello and Edward Johnson). On April 16, 1888, a company under Campanini's management presented the American premiere of Verdi's "Otello" at the New York Academy of Music, with Francesco Marconi, Eva Tetrazzini, Antonio Galassi and Sofia Scalchi: later in the run, Campanini himself took over from Francesco Marconi in the role of Otello. Campanini's brother Cleofonte was brought in to conduct, and he married the Eva Tetrazzini, the famed Luisa's older sister. Campanini remained a member of the Metropolitan company from 1891 to 1894.