The key work of Italian verismo and one of the most popular operas in the world, Leoncavallo's masterpiece is the first opera premiere of the new theatre season.
In the expectedly inventive directorial interpretation by Mario Kovač and under the baton of Maestro Ivo Lipanović, the production brings to the stage elements typical of the era of its creation: characters of flesh and blood from lower social strata, whose sufferings are real and often bloody, clash with one another in a naturalistic manner. Drawing inspiration from an actual crime, Leoncavallo set the story of jealousy, infidelity, and murder among a troupe of traveling actors, creating a dramatic and emotional "theater within a theater" in which the tragic character Canio, with the mask of Pagliaccio, laments "Vesti la giubba", an aria that has made some of the greatest names in opera history famous.