Tachikawa Citizen's Opera 2023 Opera Cavalleria Rusticana

Verismo opera is the cry of the soul of the real world, expressed in magnificent music created by chorus, orchestra, and singers. This year's Tachikawa Citizens' Opera will focus on the short but rich Verismo period, with orchestral performances of famous interludes from Verismo operatic works, and the complete "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni, the pioneer and masterpiece of the genre.

Part 1: Orchestral Performance
Schmidt: Interlude from "Notre Dame
Leoncavallo: Interlude from "The Clown
Giordano: Interlude from "Fedora" (Opera)
Mascagni: Interlude from Opera "Fritz the Friend
Part 2
Mascagni: Opera Cavalleria Rusticana in one act, performed in the original language with subtitles, semi-staged

Conductor: Seiichi Furuya Director: Kenji Naoi
Cast: In order of performance date (18th, 19th)
Turiddu Kazuyoshi Sawasaki, Shunsuke Suzuki
Santuzza Tomomi Ishigami, Taeko Emizu
Lucia Maruyama Natsumi, Miho Asai
Alfio, Hiroshi Okawa, Genta Fujioka
Laura Erika Konno, Kaori Ito
Chorus: Tachikawa Citizens' Opera Chorus
Orchestra: TBSK Orchestra
Narration (Part 1 only): Sakiko Taira (Theatre Ort)

<Cavalleria Rusticana Synopsis
Set 150 years ago in a quiet village on the island of Sicily, a murder case develops out of a love triangle. A rural village with blue skies, sea and dazzling sun. Christian piety has taken root there for nearly 2,000 years, and the villagers work, sing, drink, pray, and celebrate Easter morning again this year. When Turiddu returned from the war, he could not give up on Laura, who had married another man while he was away. Laura, too... their almost forgotten love rekindled fiercely. But in order to forget the "love flame," Turiddu had created a new lover named Santuzza. Even though Santuzza cries and begs him not to leave her, Turiddu abuses her and runs to Laura... After exchanging farewells with her mother Lucia and entrusting Santuzza to her, he is killed in a duel by Laura's husband Alfio, who is bent on revenge.
　The protagonists of the verismo opera are not mythological gods, heroes, kings or nobles, but ordinary people. Verismo (realism) is truly an ancient and modern "one-act" story that dramatizes the intuitive behavior of human beings in the midst of ordinary daily life. The "Rural Chivalry (Cavalleria Rusticana)," a spectacle of love, jealousy, anger, and conflict with plot and music, is one of its best-known works.