Clowns / Peasant Chivalry by Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Dum 16 Iun. 2024, De la (2024/2024), Regizat de către Michal Znaniecki,, Dirijor Massimiliano Caldi, Europejskie Centrum Sztuki - Opera i Filharmonia Podlaska, Bialystok, Poland

Two masterpieces of the veristic repertoire: Pagliacci by Rugger Leoncavallo and Chivalry of the Peasant by Pietro Mascagni have been an inseparable pair for years. Both Clowns and Chivalry of the Peasant were written for the same competition announced by a Milanese music publishing house in 1890. The score submitted by Mascagni won first place at that time. However, it quickly turned out that Leoncavallo's work also represented exceptional artistic value. The success of the premiere of Pagliacci exceeded the wildest expectations, and from that moment on, both operas are performed together during one performance. In line with this tradition, the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic also includes two veristic works in its repertoire. The Białystok production , conducted by Massimiliano Caldi and directed by Michał Znaniecki, will be the world premiere of the original score of Peasant Chivalry , prepared by the Bärenreiter publishing house. The action of Pagliacci takes place in an Italian village and presents the life of a group of circus artists. The drama of the piece is based on the love tragedy of the main characters, and Leoncavallo's extremely melodious and dynamic music brings out the entire emotional palette of the characters. The composer skillfully combined farce and tragedy in one work and depicted the drama of jealousy in the artistic community, ending in bloodshed. In Peasant Chivalry, Mascagni contained a thick mixture of love, passion and betrayal, disgrace, duel and death - emotions boiling like a volcano against the background of the Sicilian countryside through which the Easter procession passes. The composer emphasized the veristic style of the opera through brutality, naturalism, melodramatic gestures and singing mixed with noise and shouts.