Opening night: Friday 25 October 2024, Ludlow Assembly
Final performance: Friday 22 November 2024, Hafren, Newtown

Mid Wales Opera are back on tour this autumn with Leoncavallo’s legendary operatic thriller ‘Pagliacci’, or ‘Clowns’. Canio, the leader of a touring troupe of comedy actors, discovers that his wife Nedda is having an affair with one of the other performers. But before finding out who it is, he must go on stage and perform the role of… a despairing husband whose wife is having an affair. The performance culminates with the terrifying blurring of reality between stage and real life witnessed by a terrified audience. Packed with sensational music, Pagliacci retains its cult status as the ultimate operatic ‘play-within-a-play’.

MWO’s new production features a cast of 5 singers and 5 musicians, with a new English translation by Richard Studer, and a new chamber arrangement by Jonathan Lyness. As previously with SmallStages, the opera forms just the first half of the evening. The second half will feature a newly created cabaret of popular and entertaining musical items featuring all singers and musicians for audiences to revel in and enjoy.