In 1880, Carreño and her second husband, Giovanni Tagliapietra, joined singer Madame Donaldi in the formation of the Carreño-Donaldi Opera Company. This troupe performed throughout the eastern half of the United States from 1881-1882, when Carreño stepped away from the company to take care of her young children. Shortly after the Carreño-Donaldi Opera Company dissolved in 1882, Carreño contacted the Venezuelan government to express her wish to return to her country of birth and form a new opera company. Letters to and from Venezuelan presidents General Joaquín Crespo and Guzmán Blanco in 1885 and 1886 detail her invitation back to Venezuela to form this opera company as well as outline the plans for the formation of an international music conservatory. This period serves as an interlude in Carreño's career as a pianist as she worked to set up her new opera company, founded in 1886 with a group of foreign artists, such as famed Italian soprano Teresina Brambilla. The company was even conducted by Carreño for a time as the initial conductor left. A woman-founded and conducted opera company was a rare sight to see, and unfortunately, Carreño’s vision for such a thing did not last long, as the company collapsed under the external weight of political violence in Caracas and lack of funding.
