Ruggiero Leoncavallo "Pagliacci" Opera in two acts Stage director - Ivan Popovski Set design and costumes - Andrey Klimov Choirmaster - Lyudmila Eryutkina Lighting designer - Konstantin Rozhkov Conductor - Yaroslav Tkalenko The production of R. Leoncavallo's opera "Pagliacci" was presented to the Moscow public on October 25, 2015 , on the birthday of the founder of the Center for Opera Singing, the great Russian singer Galina Vishnevskaya. Written by the composer to his own libretto, the opera immediately after the premiere - which took place in Milan on May 21, 1892 - became incredibly loved by the public. Critics have called Pagliacci a manifesto of verism, a realistic trend in Italian art. Indeed, the plot was based on a real story that happened in the Calabrian village of Montalto, where the estate of R. Leoncavallo's father was located: after the end of the performance, an actor from a traveling troupe killed his wife and her beloved, who served in the house of the future composer. His father, a representative of the judiciary, sentenced the perpetrator of double murder to twenty years in prison. On the stage of the Opera Singing Center, the world of clowns, wandering comedians, absurd on stage and loving and passionate in real life, comes to life. Stage director Ivan Popovski, with whom Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya worked on The Tsar's Bride, Rigoletto, Carmen and Boris Godunov, studied many classic versions of Pagliacci in order to stage a lively, modern performance, while filled with respect for the author and respect for traditions, on which G.P. Vishnevskaya. Olga Rostropovich, the artistic director of the Opera Singing Center, invited the young talented Italian conductor Gianluca Marciano to play the role of the stage director. This was his first production in Moscow and, according to the musician, he could not wish himself a better start than at the Opera Singing Center: “for me this is a privilege and I am proud that I had the opportunity to participate in this production in memory of the greatest Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya ". The main roles are brilliantly performed by graduates of the Center Sergey Polyakov (Canio), Nestan Mebonia (Nedda), Alexander Aliev (Tonio). The costumes of the opera heroes, created by the production designer Andrei Klimov, are thought out to the smallest detail and echo the national Italian costumes. The first act of the opera takes place in a picturesque Italian village, where itinerant comedians come, the second act is their performance in the genre of "comedy del arte", for the production of which the rector of the Academy named after Nico Pepe Claudio de Mallo was invited from Italy.