On December 24 and December 25, 2021 the famous opera Pagliacci by the Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo will be premiered at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. The opera is interpreted, staged and scenically designed by Marat Gatsalov, a recipient of the Golden Mask theatre prize.
The Stage Director’s unusual sight, production with video installations, bright images, brilliant voices, expressive breathtaking music, and chorus singers’ great work are anticipated by Vladivostok spectators. The tragic hero and jealous husband Canio is at the centre of Leoncavallo’s opera. Besides him, the fervent lover Tonio and the cast-off admirer Silvio compete for love of the sole heroine Nedda. From the composer’s point of view, they are not standard roles, they are human souls from the inside out.
“The opera name speaks for itself; this performance is about artists,” Marat Gatsalov commented on his sight of the production. “In this plot we see a classic love triangle. Tonio is the author of the whole story and provokes the situation. This opera is his confession. In the finale he sublimes his immense energy to realize it on the stage.”
The Pagliacci opera expresses fully all ideas of Italian verismo. Canio’s famous aria “Vesti la guibba” is not only an emotional pinnacle of the whole opera, it also lies among the gold reserves of the tenor repertoire. The part of Canio at the Vladivostok premiere performances will be sung by Mikhail Vekua, a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. The baton will be held by Paolo Bressan renowned for his experience and expertise in Italian opera, who is the founder of the Youth Symphony Orchestra Festival in Schwerin, Germany, and the classical music festival LacMus in Tremezzina, Italy.
