She enjoyed a career outside Italy as well, appearing notably in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, where she sang Rosina, Lucia and Gilda.

The excellent mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe sings Rosina, and the tenor Michael Shade is the poor student she loves who turns out to be, of course, Count Almaviva.

Take Diana Damrau, the dazzling German coloratura soprano who initially sang Rosina.

The two of them sang their first Figaro and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia together with the Chicago Opera Company among many other performances.

The mezzo-soprano Carmen Oprisanu sings Rosina, and the tenor Paul Austin Kelly sings Count Almaviva.

She returned to the Met later that year to sing Rosina in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles.

The obvious competitor of the moment is Cecilia Bartoli, the Italian mezzo-soprano, who sang Rosina in her American stage debut two years ago at the Houston Grand Opera.

She is not yet scheduled to sing Rosina there, but stay tuned.

In 1988, she sang Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville (Jérôme Savary production in Strasbourg)

Ms. DiDonato is about to sing Rosina in the Metropolitan Opera's "Barber of Seville," and you would do well to buy tickets soon.