Early opera

The arrival in February 1861 of Signore and Signora Bianchi and their Grand Italian Opera Company marked the beginning of what has been called a 'golden phase' of operatic activity in South Australia. During their three-month season they introduced to Adelaide audiences a large Italian repertoire of works by Bellini (Norma), Donizetti (Elixir of Love, Lucia di Lammermoor) and Verdi (Rigoletto, Attila, Il Trovatore). Following them, from 1865 to 1880, American entrepreneur William Lyster brought no less than ten Royal Italian and English Opera Companies to Adelaide, sometimes joining in partnership with the Italian Opera Company of Cagli and Pompei, whose conductor, Alberto Zelman from Trieste, would later settle in Melbourne.

Extract from “ITALIANS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA: THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS” - Desmond O'Connor