Perhaps they (On Site Opera) have found a viable route back to the future.

As On Site Opera’s captivating performance demonstrated, Paisiello’s opera holds up very well, thank you, and so does the musical style of his day. One can spot moments that are at least as good as-or even better than-comparable places in Rossini’s opera.

A recent production at On Site Opera in New York achieved the seemingly impossible. The performance I attended was so fresh, original and immediate that, within minutes, it banished any thought of Rossini from my mind. Overall I enjoyed this evening as much as any live opera I’ve attended in the last decade.

Smaller companies like On Site Opera are experimenting with performance in non-traditional spaces, generally at something closer to the scale at which these many works were historically meant to be heard. Perhaps they have found a viable route back to the future.

It (On Site Opera) succeeds brilliantly in making opera-going an intimate experience, where the singers are a few feet away from the audience and drawing us into the story in a way that a night at the Met or any other grand opera house can hardly ever do.

On Site’s take on opera is “immersive,” that is, performed in a non-traditional venue all around the audience. The setting proved most apt for the romantic comedy’s first act, which takes place outdoors on a street in Seville…When, according to the story, the ingénue Rosina sang from her balcony, soprano Monica Yunus leaned out of a third-story window of the mansion, her pearly sound projected perfectly into the cozy al fresco space.

This visionary company could be on to something big.

The enterprising On Site Opera company presented a delightful production of this clever, sure-paced and musically inventive earlier opera.

On Site Opera’s latest operatic adventure is a hit! …Director and On Site Opera Founder, Eric Einhorn continues to display a genius for transforming sites into living, breathing immersive theatrical environments.

Eric Einhorn’s deft direction allowed sweet moments for the lovers and good, broad humor for the others, with Bartolo’s servants probably much like the help then. The effect was one of intimacy and ‘rightness’ for Paisiello’s, good-natured score.

This performance, with a chamber orchestra (under the baton of On Site’s music director Geoffrey McDonald) showed that the older composer had his own generous melodic gifts. The burbling overture, spitfire comic exchanges and lovely, carefully constructed arias are all in the mode of the classical 18th century. All deserve further attention beyond this performance.

On Site Opera’s winningly effervescent revival which opened Tuesday night proved a delight.

At a balcony overhead, the doors parted and the lovely soprano Monica Yunus stepped out. We felt like part of the action, perhaps a neighbor witnessing the serenade…Clearly, leaving the concert hall requires no sacrifice of musical or dramatic values. General and Artistic Director Eric Einhorn has earned our admiration and respect. When we could tear our attention away from the action, we glanced around the room and saw rows of smiling faces.

On Site Opera has a special niche in the New York opera scene as the pioneer of doing works in specific settings.