The Aurora Opera House will today be celebrating 40 years of opera in Gozo with its production of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana (1890) and I Pagliacci (1892) by Ruggero Leoncavallo, known as Cav and Pag.

Composed only two years apart, both exemplified – or codified – verismo, a short-lived but hugely popular operatic movement that featured blue-collar workers in contemporary dress and showed human nature at its most base and brutal.

But Cav and Pag’s similarities do not end there; both chronicle adulterous love, savage passions and violent ends, and neither composer ever reached such heights again.

Cavalleria will open the night with Alberto Mastromarino as Alfio and Chilean opera star Giancarlo Monsalve in the role of Turiddu.

Joanna Parisi leads the female cast as Santuzza, flanked by Maltese mezzos Christine Dalli as Lola and Graziella Debattista as Mamma Lucia.

Pagliacci will follow, with Mastromarino and Monsalve being the only two common members of the cast. They will interpret Tonio and Canio respectively.

Marzio Giossi, now a household name with the Aurora audiences, is set to return as Silvio. Cliff Zammit Stevens will debut at the Aurora as Peppe. The only female in the Pagliacci cast will be the renowned soprano Elena Kelessidi.

Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci is being staged at the Aurora Theatre in Victoria today at 7.30pm. Tickets may be purchased online at teatruaurora. com or on ticket helpline: 7904 5779. Opera at the Aurora is being produced as part of the Gozo Cultural Support Programme between the Ministry for Gozo and Arts Council Malta.

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