Mascagni News

Who cares if Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci are done to death by opera companies? Lust, jealousy, infidelity, revenge and murder are always in style, as Opera Tampa proved once again in a top-flight staging of the durable double bill - invariably paired together and dubbed Cav and Pag - Friday at the Straz Center.

Tenor Scott Piper makes his debut as Canio in Opera Tampa's Pagliacci. He also sings the lead, Turiddu, in Cavalleria Rusticana.

More sailing on the high Cs . . . Sony Classical, in its ongoing partnership with the Metropolitan Opera, adds to its popular series of releases drawn from the illustrious Met archives with four multi-disc sets that represent the first official release on CD of historic Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts dating from 1962 to 1968.