“But doctor, I am Pagliacci!” — or so the punchline goes. Though the “depressed clown” joke predates Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 opera, after Pagliacci entered the zeitgeist as “that story with the sad ...

Ask the average Seattleite what they think of when they hear the word pagliacci and they’re almost guaranteed to answer “pizza”—or, maybe, “class action lawsuit.” One hundred years ago, though, the ...

Seattle Opera will open its 2024/25 season with the “clown prince” of Italian verismo, Pagliacci. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s gritty tale of jealousy and unbridled rage holds a mirror up to a violent ...

San Diego Opera opened its 2025-26 season on a Halloween night with an appropriately disturbing opera about a murderous clown. Its unsavory plot hasn’t kept Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci from ...

Although she's starring in one of opera's most memorable tragedies, Bonnie Frauenthal is happily returning to her college town — even if she has to fly halfway around the world to get back to Oklahoma ...

When it comes to challenging operatic roles for tenors, the clown troupe leader Canio in Leoncavallo Ruggero’s beloved 1892 “Pagliacci” is right up there. It requires power-singing, vocal range and ...

Want to know why some people hate clowns? Check out the Fargo-Moorhead Opera's "I Pagliacci" this weekend. The central character is ground zero for sad, dark, twisted clowns. We don't want to give ...

Let’s do some math: a century-old opera unhappy clowns a language other than English. Not your standard equation for indulgent time-wastage. But infidelity murder jealousy totally is, and Pagliacci ...

‘I Pagliacci,” Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s tragic tale of adultery and revenge set to glorious music, remains one of the most popular operas since its 1892 premiere. Still, a new adaptation enjoys all ...