Eva-Maria Westbroek and Aleksandrs Antonenko star in a new production of these two darkly passionate operatic masterpieces, directed by Damiano Michieletto.

Pietro Mascagni’s greatest opera Cavalleria Rusticana is a tragic tale of forsaken love and jealous revenge. It follows the story of peasant Turiddu as he sings of his love for Lola. He is overheard by Santuzza, a woman he has seduced, leading Santuzza to tell Lola’s husband Alfio of his wife’s infidelity.

Adapted from Giovanni Verga’s play Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry), Mascagni’s opera was created for a competition held by music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno. The verismo masterpiece won the competition and became a tremendous success on its premiere in 1890.

Leoncavallo’s thrilling tragic opera Pagliacci tells the story of hunchback clown Tonio’s love for Nedda, wife of Canio, who leads their acting troupe. Nedda rejects Tonio and in revenge he brings Canio to spy on Nedda with her lover Silvio, but Silvio escapes before Canio can identify him.

Like Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci was born from a commission from Sonzogno. It overtly plays with our ideas of what is real and what is not, culminating in a brilliant finale, in which we watch the onstage audience slowly understand that a tragedy is unfurling before them.

Both operas are sung in Italian.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.