I Pagliacci

2009 Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Florence, Teatro Comunale, February 14th 2009
settings by: Franco Zeffirelli
directed by: Franco Zeffirelli

OPERA

The Florence production of Pagliacci marked Zeffirelli’s seventh and final encounter with this opera.

Once again, Zeffirelli set the story in the present day:
he revisited and reworked the settings originally conceived for Athens, but this time he positioned the scaffolding not against the actual theatre wall, but in front of a set representing a cluster of working-class buildings.

This highly successful production was later revived in numerous theaters:

• Rome’s Opera House, May 19th 2009
• Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, April 5th 2011
• Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, January 27th 2012 and January 22nd 2017
• Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, November 22nd 2013
• Royal Opera House in Muscat, March 15th 2018.

Stefano Trespidi and Carlo Centolavigna oversaw subsequent revivals at Rome’s Opera House on March 12th 2023, and at Teatro Regio in Parma on May 5th 2023.