Sorry for the delay! The one weekend I leave you ask an opera question! ;)

The answer is perhaps more complicated than it might at first appear if you'd like to read that blog post, but the traditional answer is that the first fully sung, fully staged Italian opera in America was in New York in 1825, and it was Rossini's wonderful Barber of Seville. The singer of the title role was baritone Manuel Garcia, a very fine vocal teacher and inventor of the laryngoscope. 1825 is QUITE late though in the big scheme of opera history, took about 50 years for Americans to get their opera scene together, but it may cheer you to know that we are currently the #2 consumers of opera in the world.