On March 27 and 28, 2021, the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre will introduce its version of Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci on its stage.

In January 2020, Krasnoyarsk residents could already see the production of this opera in a semi-stage format. Now the production team has prepared an impressive full-length performance, and it will be a completely different show, as director Yelizaveta Korneeva emphasizes.

“On stage, the audience will see the courtyard of a multi-storey building - this is a closed courtyard, a kind of a well. In it, you can see everything that is happening there in full view, therefore everyone knows all the neighbours’ secrets there. And all the action takes place inside the courtyard. Scenes of Canio's jealousy for Nedda, Nedda's love for Silvio: all the twists and turns of the plot converge in this place. Not only opera characters and spectators are watching what is happening but also masks are looking at the stage from the windows above as a symbol of the theatre. Hence the questions: who are we, What is our human life: is it a game invented by us, or does it belong to the highest category? Are we actors in it, and is it just a theatre, or do we possess our own lives, are we their creators? At least for Canio, the theatre has become more important than his own life,” - explains Yelizaveta Korneeva.

The scenography of Pagliacci is done in dark coloгrs. For example, all costumes (except for the bride's outfit) are made in black, but there will also be bright accents: exactly those giant masks. The masters of the theatre's scenery workshop have already painted them in various colours.

The designer of the show is Yekaterina Ageniy. Yelizaveta and Yekaterina are a successful creative team: they previously worked together on Joseph Haydn's opera Il Mondo della Luna at the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre in 2018 (the performance was included in the long list of the Golden Mask National Theatre Award), as well as Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 2020). Both performances took part in the festival To See Music that is held in Moscow.