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Description
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Cavalleria Rusticana
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Pagliacci
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Adam Plachetka
Pietro Mascagni / Ruggero Leoncavallo:
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / PAGLIACCI
opera premiere
25 June 2026, Thursday, 8:00 PM
(rain date: 26 June)
Margaret Island Open-Air Stage
Two one-act operas on a single evening at the Margaret Island Theatre
Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci have often been performed together since their premieres, offering audiences a full-length and emotionally powerful operatic experience. Although the two works are not directly connected musically or narratively, their thematic parallels make them an ideal pairing. Both are set in rural Italy and revolve around jealousy, love, revenge, and honor—emotions that ultimately drive the characters toward inevitable tragedy.
Pietro Mascagni composed Cavalleria rusticana for a competition, and it quickly became a sensation. When Turiddu returns from military service to Sicily, he discovers that his beloved, Lola, has married Alfio. Despite this, Turiddu rekindles their relationship, prompting Alfio to challenge him to a duel—one that ends in Turiddu’s death. The opera premiered in Rome in 1890, and later that same year it reached Hungarian audiences at the Royal Hungarian Opera House, conducted by Gustav Mahler.
Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote Pagliacci, inspired by a similar competition. The opera follows a “play within a play” structure, telling the story of a theatrical performance that gradually spirals into real-life tragedy. Its title refers to pagliaccio, the comic clown of the commedia dell’arte tradition. At its 1892 world premiere, the work was conducted by one of history’s greatest maestros, Arturo Toscanini. Both operas share a naturalistic approach, portraying the struggles of real, flesh-and-blood characters through everyday stories.
Featuring:
Zsuzsa Barabás, Boldizsár László, Mária Farkasréti, Adam Plachetka, Eszter Balogh, Brigitta Kele, Sándor Balla, Ninh Duc Hoang Long, Gergely Halász
With the participation of:
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra
Kodály Choir of Debrecen
Conductor:
Zsolt Jankó
Pietro Mascagni:
Cavalleria Rusticana
Santuzza: Zsuzsa Barabás
Turiddu: Boldizsár László
Alfio: Adam Plachetka
Lucia: Mária Farkasréti
Lola: Eszter Balogh
Performed by:
Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra
Kodály Choir of Debrecen
Conducted by: Zsolt Jankó
Ruggero Leoncavallo:
Pagliacci
Canio: Boldizsár László
Nedda: Brigitta Kele
Tonio: Sándor Balla
Beppe: Ninh Duc Hoang Long
Silvio: Gergely Halász
Performed by:
Budapest Philharmonic Society Orchestra
Kodály Choir of Debrecen
Conducted by: Zsolt Jankó
Adam Plachetka was educated at the conservatoire in his hometown of Prague.
Following his debut at the Prague National Theatre in 2005, Adam has since returned as Don Giovanni, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia), Nardo (La finta giradiniera), Argante (Rinaldo), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Přemysl (Libuše) a Vladislav (Dalibor) and many more.
He appears regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Don Giovanni, L'elisir d'amore, Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Rodelinda, Peter Grimes), at the Wiener Staatsoper (La bohéme, Alcina, L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, L'Italiana in Algeri, La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, I Puritani) and at the Salzburger Festspiele (Benvenuto Cellini, Rusalka, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte).
Adam`s other engagements include appearances at the Royal Opera House, London (Don Giovanni, L'elisir d'amore), Festpielhaus Baden-Baden (Così fan tutte, La clemenza di Tito), Glyndebourne Festival (Le nozze di Figaro), Carnegie Hall, New York (Salome), Deutsche Oper and Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin (Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro), Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Così fan tutte, L'Italiana in Algeri), Lyric Opera of Chicago (Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Il barbiere di Siviglia), Opéra de Paris (La Cenerentola) and at Houston Grand Opera (Le nozze di Figaro).
In concert he appeared at the Musikverein in Vienna and in Graz, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and in Stockholm, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and at the Municipal House and the Rudolfinum in Prague. He has collaborated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, L`Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Radio, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
He has taken part in recordings for Arte, Arthaus Musik, Capriccio, Clasart Classics, Czech TV, Czech Radio, Deutsche Grammophon, Mezzo, Naxos, Nibiru, Orfeo, ORF, Pentatone, Radioservis, Servus TV, Supraphon and Unitel Classica.
Adam has performed under the baton of such conductors as Marco Armiliato, Daniel Barenboim, Mariss Jansons, Fabio Luisi, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst.
