This is where two one-hit-wonders of nineteenth-century Italian operas meet. Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana was first performed in Rome in 1890 and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci in Milan two years later.

The subject of Cavalleria rusticana is based on a then very popular peasant tragedy by Giovanni Verga. Pagliacci draws on the play La femme de Tabarin by Catulle Mendès, with the libretto by the composer. Both operas premiered on 29 September, 2018 at the Oper Graz with the Grazer Philharmoniker under the direction of Oksana Lyniv.

Cast:

Cavalleria rusticana
- Santuzza: Ezgi Kutlu
- Turiddu: Aldo Di Toro
- Lucia: Cheryl Studer
- Alfio: Audun Iversen
- Lola: Mareike Jankowski

Pagliacci
- Canio: Aldo Di Toro
- Nedda: Aurelia Florian
- Tonio: Audun Iversen
- Beppo: Martin Fournier
- Silvio: Neven Crnić
- 1st peasant: Sangyeon Chae
- 2nd peasant: Christian Scherler