Theater & The Arts: Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci

Audiences at Hudson Yards are invited to enjoy a free screening of opera’s ultimate double feature: Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci. Jonas Kaufmann leads an extraordinary cast in back-to-back performances from the Salzburg Easter Festival, joined by the Staatskapelle Dresden and conductor Christian Thielemann. Composer Pietro Mascagni’s one-act opera Cavalleria rusticana —staged in cinematic black and white—reveals a tight-knit Sicilian village bound by ritual, honor, and simmering resentment, where private emotions erupt into public consequence. Then, Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci explores a true story of love and murder, told through the colorful, improvisatory lens of a commedia dell’arte troupe. This well-known opera features the unforgettable aria, “Vesti la giubba.” The cast includes Liudmyla Monastyrska, Maria Agresta, Dimitri Platanias, Tansel Akzeybek, and Alessio Arduini.