OPERA WESTERN RESERVE PRESENTS PAGLIACCI ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2026 AT THE DEYOR PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Press Release
YOUNGSTOWN, OH (June 15, 2026): On Saturday, September 26, 2026 at 7:30pm, Opera Western Reserve will present Leoncavallo’s famous opera, “Pagliacci”, in the Edward W. Powers Auditorium at the DeYor Performing Arts Center.
Always an audience favorite for its dramatic, passionate music and colorful scenes, “Pagliacci” (The Clowns) is a Verismo style opera, featuring realistic characters thrust into everyday life crises. Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote both the words and the music in 1892, and not only is the opera based on a true story, but it is perhaps Opera’s original “Reality Show.”
The story follows a raucous band of traveling clowns, jugglers and actors who arrive in a small Italian town to perform their boisterous comedy act. Amid the circus-like atmosphere, tensions arise behind the scenes between the actor playing Pagliaccio, the lead clown, and his young wife. Pagliaccio suspects his wife is having an affair. As his personal conflict is mirrored in the drama they are portraying on stage, the boundaries between performance and reality begin to blur. Conumed with jealousy, suspicion, and rage, Pagliaccio is unable to separate his own life from the fictional play they are enacting. A real-life tragedy unfolds on stage while the audience of villagers mistake the emotionally-charged drama as expert acting.
The tenor aria “Vesti la glubba,” (Put on the costume), sung by Pagliaccio immediately following his realization that his wife has humiliated him, is the most iconic and famous of the opera. Even though his heart is breaking, he must still play the clown, plaster his face with make-up and a smile. In fact, the very first record to sell one million copies was famed tenor Enrico Caruso’s 1902 recording of “Vesti la glubba.”
When Opera Western Reserve debuted back in 2004, Pagliacci was the inaugural production presented at Stambaugh Auditorium. The return of this production comes as Opera Western Reserve begins it’s twenty-second year of fully staged costumed productions with the orchestra, chorus, and professional stingers in Youngstown.
Tickets for Pagliacci will go on sale on July 3, 2026. Ticket prices range from $37 to $87, including service fees. $10 student tickets are also available. Follow Opera Western Reserve on social media and visit operawesternreserve.org for updates and more information.