Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci

Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads this immortal double-bill of one-act operas that teem with love, jealousy, despair, and murder. Violeta Urmana is Santuzza in Cavalleria—pregnant and abandoned by the handsome and popular Turiddu (Yonghoon Lee). But their illicit dalliance is discovered by Santuzza’s husband, Alfio (Ambrogio Maestri), who challenges Turiddu to a duel, and kills him. Marco Berti is Canio, the iconic clown in Pagliacci who must entertain the audience while his heart is breaking. Barbara Frittoli is his wife, Nedda, who plans to flee with her young lover, Silvio (Alexey Lavrov), after the performance. But when the action on stage too closely mirrors real life, Canio erupts and murders them both. George Gagnidze plays Tonio, a spurned suitor of Nedda’s who gets his revenge by telling Canio of his wife’s unfaithfulness.