Opera western Reserve Presents Ruggero Leoncavallo’s
Pagliacci
Saturday, September 26, 2026 | 7:30 pm
Edward W. Powers Auditorium | DeYor Performing Arts Center
Always an audience favorite for its dramatic, passionate music and colorful scenes, “Pagliacci” (The Clown) is a Verismo style opera, featuring realistic characters thrust into everyday life crises. Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote both the wrods 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. Consumed 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 mistakes the emotionally-charged drama as expert acting.
The tenor aria “Vesti la glubba,” (Put on the costume), sung bay Pagliaccio immediagetly 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.”
Jonny Kaufman, Tenor • Canio
Tenor Jonny Kaufman possesses a voice of entrancing power, beauty, and finesse, which he employs with considerable technique and musicianship.
Last season, Kaufman sang the title role in Faust with Opera Western Reserve and brought his lauded Don José to Carmen productions with Charleston Opera Theater and San Diego Opera. He also reprised several roles in returns to St. Petersburg Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème, Union Avenue Opera as Samson in Samson et Dalila, and Opera Wilmington as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. This season, Mr. Kaufman returns to Opera Western Reserve to reprise his Canio in Pagliacci, North Carolina Opera as Calaf in Turandot, and Opera Grand Rapids to reprise his Don José in Carmen.
Mr. Kaufman recently made his role début as Samson in Samson et Dalila with St. Petersburg Opera, which he also covered for New Orleans Opera. He also returned to Opera Carolina to sing Don José in Carmen, joined Fort Worth Symphony to sing the Steersman and cover Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, sang Canio in Pagliacci with Union Avenue Opera, and joined North Carolina Opera to cover the title role in Ernani.
Sarah Joyce Cooper, Soprano • Nedda
Sarah Joyce Cooper is an award-winning soprano known for her “meltingly beautiful” (Opera News) singing and “passionate power” (Parterre Box). Recent highlights include her debut with Seattle Opera as Minnie Tate in the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson’s Jubilee; the role of Violetta in La Traviata with Opera Acadia; Carnegie Hall appearances as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the New England Symphonic Ensemble; and the title role in James Kallembach’s American Jezebel: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson, a world premiere opera commissioned by Harvard University that tells the story of theologian, midwife, scholar, and co-founder of Rhode Island, Anne Hutchinson.
Other recent performances include the roles of Eva and Gabriel in Haydn’s The Creation with MIT and the Handel and Haydn Society Chamber Choir; soloist appearances with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; and the highly anticipated Rochester premiere of Will Todd’s Mass in Blue with the Rochester Oratorio Society. Operatic credits include Juliet in Romeo + Juliet (Opera Western Reserve), Adina in L’Elisir d’amore (Geneva Light Opera, Bar Harbor Music Festival, Boston Opera Collaborative), Clorinda in La Cenerentola (Syracuse Opera), Violetta in La Traviata (MassOpera) and La Charmeuse in Thaïs (Maryland Lyric Opera). Ms. Cooper holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French studies from Princeton University and Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College. In addition to performing, Ms. Cooper is Artistic Director of Opera Acadia and volunteers extensively with Help!ComeHome!, a nonprofit dedicated to meeting the needs of under-served communities throughout the US in Jesus’ Name.
Brian Keith Johnson, Baritone • Silvio
Brian Keith Johnson has performed many roles in opera from Figaro in il barbiere di Siviglia to Ford in Falstaff. His concert repertoire includes most of the major baritone works such as Carmina Burana, Elijah, The Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, The Brahms Requiem and The Faure’ Requiem. He has performed operatic and musical theatre roles across the United States including performances with The Cleveland Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Blossom Festival Orchestra, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Opera Western Reserve, Carolina Master Chorale, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Porthouse Theatre.
Mr. Johnson received his BM Degree from The University of Akron and has also studied abroad at The New Opera Academy of Rome in Rome, Italy and The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. This season he sings Schicchi (Cover) with The Cleveland Institute of Music, The Governor/Innkeeper and Cervantes (Cover) in The Man of La Mancha with The Ohio Shakespeare Festival, The Mozart Requiem with Summit Choral Society, and Carmina Burana with The Akron Symphony Orchestra. Brian, and his wife Susan retired last year from The Akron Public School System with a combined 68 years of teaching between them. Brian is also an avid motorcyclist.
Dr. José Luis Maldonado, Baritone • Tonio
Dr. José Luis Maldonado, also known as Baritone Joe, is an international baritone from Los Angeles, California, hailed by Opera News as a “seemingly unlimited baritone.” He earned degrees from Cal State Fullerton and Manhattan School of Music and completed his DMA at Michigan State University under Dr. Mark Rucker. A recipient of the Opera Buffs Inc. Career Grant and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, he has established a distinguished career on stages across the United States and abroad. His repertory includes Don Alfonso, Don Magnifico, Escamillo, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Dulcamara, Tonio, and Figaro. He has appeared with Long Beach Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Pacific Opera Project, Opera Grand Rapids, Lyric Opera of Orange County, Indianapolis Opera, Bellissima Opera, Opera Birmingham, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, among others. Recent engagements include the title role in Rigoletto, Dr. Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Tonio in Pagliacci and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. Praised for his vocal depth, dramatic intelligence, and stylistic versatility, Maldonado brings authority and presence to a wide range of repertoire, from Mozart and Donizetti to Verdi, Puccini, and contemporary works. For more information please visit www.BaritoneJoe.com
Ethan E. Burck • Beppe
Ethan Burck, originally from Aurora, Illinois, holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music and Baldwin Wallace University. In the 2025–2026 season Ethan joined orchestras around the country performing Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and scenes from Die Fledermaus as well as rejoining the Des Moines Metro Opera singing Carlson in Carlyle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men and covering the Shepherd in King Roger. He also performed scenes for Dvořak’s Rusalka and Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. Ethan is managed by Piper Artists Management.
In the 2024–2025 he joined Opera Philadelphia to cover several roles in the U.S. Premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners. He also spent 3 months in Iowa as a member of the Des Moines Metro Opera’s OPERA Iowa tour, traveling around the state of Iowa performing, giving masterclasses, and advancing opera throughout the state. Following this tour, Ethan was an apprentice artist with Des Moines Metro Opera where he covered the role of Sellem in The Rake’s Progress and performed scenes from Janacek’s Jenufa and Britten’s Billy Budd.