Opera North

Pagliacci

Thrilling, raw and shocking, this ‘bleeding slice of life’ packs an explosive punch into its running time of just over an hour. A travelling company of commedia dell’arte players prepares for a show, but their performance soon disintegrates, as a hidden affair unravels into dangerous, violent jealousy.

Leoncavallo’s most successful opera, Pagliacci (The Clowns) is a classic example of the heightened intensity, ‘real-life’ settings and compulsive dramatic drive of the Italian verismo style, with musical highlights including Canio’s celebrated aria ‘Vesti la giubba’ and Tonio’s Prologue.

L’Enfant Et Les Sortilèges

Ravel’s captivating ‘lyric fantasy’, L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells), composed to a libretto by the French novelist Colette, is dazzling, witty and surreal in equal measure.

A young boy argues with his mother, refuses to do his homework and flies into a tantrum, destroying the objects in the room around him. But in this childhood fable of enchantment, everything around the boy comes magically to life. Outside in the garden, he is also shunned by the animals and plants he has tormented and hurt, until he is forgiven after helping an injured squirrel.

One of only two short operas composed by Ravel, L’enfant et les sortilèges is both a delightful, whimsical fantasy and a profoundly moving response to the generational trauma of war, witnessed by both composer and librettist. Its exquisite, innovative score is filled with jewel-like surprises, perfectly capturing and deftly characterising talking animals and magical nursery furniture alike.