Florida Grand Opera Returns To Its Roots With A Specially Expanded Production Of Leoncavallo's I PAGLIACCI

Three house debuts, the return of a director-conductor dream team, and a harkening back to the very first production of Florida Grand Opera's historic 82 seasons mark Ruggiero Leoncavallo's I pagliacci, FGO's mid-season stunner. The tale of infidelity, revenge and murder within a troupe of traveling actors is best known for its hit tenor aria, “Vesti la giubba.”

I pagliacci (The Clowns) was written in 1892 and premiered the same year at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan. Inspired by the success of Pietro Mascagni's 1890 opera, Cavalleria rusticana, and the new verismo (realistic) style it represented, composer/librettist Ruggiero Leoncavallo drew on an incident from his childhood for the plot. A pair of brothers murdered a Leoncavallo family servant over a romance with a village girl, and Leoncavallo's father, a magistrate, presided over the trial.

It was also the inaugural production of the Miami Opera Guild, founded in 1941 by tenor and voice teacher Dr. Arturo di Filippi. On February 14, 1942, the first performance took place at the Concert Hall of Miami High School on Flagler Avenue. Di Filippi himself starred as Canio. The production was cast with local singers, accompanied by piano, and had a chorus of over fifty local singers. Although the two-act opera is often presented with a companion piece, the 1942 production stood on its own, as will the 2024 presentation.

"In 1941 Arturo di Filippi started the culture of grand opera in South Florida, and 82 seasons later, his legacy is going strong," says General Director Maria Todaro. "There are no cities in the world considered 'enlighted' or 'civilized' without an opera house at their core,  Florida Grand Opera is proud to present I pagliacci, historically the very first opera we ever presented, an incredibly poignant and deeply human opera. I would like to extend a special invitation to people who have never been to an opera. Come and experience something hard to describe with words, and please come see me at the end and let me know what you felt."

Including the first production, Florida Grand Opera has performed I pagliacci a total of eight times, often with star-studded casts who could just as easily be seen on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, including Kurt Baum, Teresa Stratas, Ermanno Mauro, Diana Soviero, Patricia Racette, Veronica Villarroel, Mark Rucker, and Jay Hunter Morris.

In the opera, Nedda, the lovely but unhappy young wife of commedia dell'arte troupe leader Canio, is in love with Silvio, a local youth, and plans to escape with him. When she rejects the advances of troupe member Tonio, he exacts revenge by revealing her infidelity to the jealous and temperamental Canio. Now comes perhaps the most famous tenor aria in the repertoire: the incomparable “Vesti la giubba,” in which Canio paints on his clown makeup as he mourns Nedda's disloyalty. He then stabs her to death on stage during the performance, dives into the audience to murder Silvio, and turns to the traumatized audience with the dramatic declaration, “La commedia é finite! (The comedy is ended!).” In addition to the famous aria, “Vesti la giubba,” this robust score is notable for Tonio's Prologue, “Si puo?,” Nedda's yearning aria “Stridono lassú”, and her impassioned love duet with Silvio.

The two-act opera runs approximately 75 minutes and often pairs with another short opera. The Florida Grand Opera production will stand alone, but stage director Jeffrey Marc Buchman has plans to expand the action through the inclusion of additional music. “I recalled that Leoncavallo borrowed from his own work, ‘La Nuit de Mai' to create the opening chorus for Pagliacci ,” he says. I wondered if there might be some other interesting material that could potentially tie in well between his two works, and it turns out that there was.”

Buchman also intends to explore the connection between opera and Neapolitan song, especially since Leoncavallo himself was from Naples. “These moving songs carry in them so many connections and similarities to opera arias, both in musical style and in dramatic content,” he says. “Much like the verismo style of opera to which Pagliacci belongs, Neapolitan songs are built on themes of the celebration of love and the pain of betrayal that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and resonated with the people of small, rural Italian villages like ours in Pagliacci.” Historically, commedia dell'arte shows included song, dance, and a variety of other acts in addition to the play which was the main event. Buchman's vision will include these elements.

A trio of debuting principals promises added excitement. Fresh from his triumphant Metropolitan Opera house and role debut as Radamés in Aida, tenor sensation Limmie Pulliam makes his Florida Grand Opera debut as Canio. Noted by the San Francisco Chronicle for his "full-throated vocal power, and intimate lyricism,” Pulliam is a rising star whose recent appearances include house and role debuts as Manrico in Los Angeles Opera's Il trovatore, a company debut in his signature title role in Otello with The Cleveland Orchestra, and a company debut in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He has been heard in leading roles with Tulsa Opera, San Diego Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Vashon Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, the Ojai Festival, and many others.

Kearstin Piper Brown will make her Florida Grand Opera debut as Nedda. The award-winning American soprano has been busy with debuts, recently appearing on PBS Great Performances in Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon's Intimate Apparel at the Lincoln Center Theater, with Santa Fe Opera in the world premiere of This Little Light of Mine, at Carnegie Hall debut singing the music of J.S. Bach and Margaret Bonds with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, a world premiere at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and with Opera Parellèle in The Shining. Her repertoire includes Musetta in La bohème, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, Violetta in La traviata, and Bess in Porgy and Bess, a role she has performed worldwide. She is in demand as an interpreter of new music and has premiered a number of roles, including Mrs. McDowell in the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork's Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story with Cincinnati Opera and Epiphany Proudfoot in the world premiere of Mark Scearse's Falling Angel at the Center for Contemporary Opera.

Baritone Robert Mellon makes his Florida Grand Opera debut in the role of Tonio. Acclaimed by Opera News for his “excellent comic timing,” and “domineering baritone, gleaming like polished copper,” Mellon has recently appeared as Marcello in La bohème with Pensacola Opera, Tonio in I pagliacci with Opera Tampa, Figaro in La nozze di Figaro with Syracuse and Tri-Cities Operas, and George in Of Mice and Men with Livermore Valley Opera. Repertoire includes Papageno (The Magic Flute), Iago (Otello), the title role in Falstaff, Escamillo (Carmen), and Leporello (Don Giovanni). He is a favorite at Pensacola Opera, InSeries Opera, and Union Avenue Opera, and has also recently appeared at Kansas City Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera, San Diego Opera, and Detroit Opera.

Rising star baritone Eleomar Cuello returns to the FGO stage in the role of Nedda's lover Silvio, after his appearance last season as Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Buoso's Ghost. Cuello left the Florida Grand Opera stage and immediately won a finalist's position in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Competition, a place in San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola program, and a debut at the Stuttgart State Opera in Germany in the title role of Don Giovanni. A young singer of immense promise, Cuello already enjoys an international career, including performances in Cecilia Valdés and Don Gil de Alcalá at Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid; Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Valentin (Faust), and many others with the prestigious Municipal Theatre of Santiago; and a variety of performances in Uruguay, Ecuador, France, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Locally, Cuello has appeared with the Gulf Coast Symphony, Vero Beach Opera, and Opera Naples. Upcoming engagements include the title role of Gianni Schicchi and Michele in Il tabarro at Oviedo Opera, Spain.

Second-year Studio Artist, tenor Joseph McBrayer, will take on the role of Beppe.

I pagliacci is conducted by Florida Grand Opera favorite, Gregory Buchalter, whose most recent appearances on the podium included last season's Tosca and the 2022's A Streetcar Named Desire. Currently Music Director of Varna International and Muzika! The Grand Strand Music Festival, his conducting engagements have included The Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, the Spoleto Festival, the New Opera World Festival in Moscow, the Vienna Summer Music Festival, and many others. He received glowing reviews for his work with the American Premiere of Mercadante's I Due Figaro, Von Winter's Das Labyrinth, and Donizetti's Olivo e Pasquale with New York's Amore Opera, and was the first American to conduct with the Kazakhstan State Opera.

Maestro Buchalter once again teams up with stage director Jeffrey Marc Buchman, who most recently directed Tosca, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Agrippina for FGO. Hailed by Opera News as “a formidable talent,” Buchman is a known innovator. He recently served as Artistic Director for Live Arts, a dynamic multimedia arena event involving 1,200 performers on 4 stages, including the Grand Rapids Symphony, Grand Rapids Ballet, Opera Grand Rapids and Broadway Grand Rapids. Contemporary productions include As One (Laura Kaminsky) for Hawaii Opera Theatre and Opera Colorado, 27 (Ricky Ian Gordon) for Michigan Opera Theatre, and the world-premieres of Carson Kievman's Tesla, Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman, and Intelligent Systems. He has directed for Atlanta Opera, Opera Tampa, Opera Carolina, Lyric Opera Baltimore, Toledo Opera, Intermountain Opera, Mobile Opera, Syracuse Opera, Sugar Creek Symphony & Song, Anchorage Opera, the Orlando Philharmonic, the Miami Summer Music Festival, and Opera Naples, among many others.

I pagliacci's production comes from Sarasota Opera, with set design by David Gordon and costumes by the indispensable Howard Tsvi Kaplan. The production is supported in part by Miami-Dade County, Florida Arts and Culture, the Community Foundation of Broward, and the Broward Cultural Division.

I pagliacci runs January 27, 28, and 30 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, and February 8 and 10 at the Broward Performing Arts Center. Tickets range from $22 - $230 depending on area, location, and date. Visit FGO.org or call 800.741-1010 for tickets.

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