The Fiery Angel
Varviso made his conducting debut at age 20 leading Mozart's "The Magic Flute" at the Stadttheater in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Over the next several years he worked as a guest conductor with minor houses throughout Switzerland. He became principal conductor of the Theater Basel (1956–1962) where he led several productions of operas by Mozart and works from the bel canto repertory. He also conducted the first German-language performance of Prokofiev's "The Fiery Angel".