“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 ...

Tragedy in opera can deliver an emotional sucker punch like no other medium. Usually, the music is to blame. But when the main characters also work in a clown troupe and must continue to entertain ...

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” or “The Clowns,” set in a traveling circus, is one of the most popular of opera tragedies, full of irresistible music. Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 dramatic tale — he wrote the libretto ...

‘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 ...

Paul Groves was a child when he first heard that classic, mournful tenor aria usually sung by a clown on opera stages. The song — specifically one of its passages — is usually recognized even by those ...