The Opera Festival of Chicago announces the cast and creative team for Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, directed by Sasha Gerritson, conducted by Uff. Emanuele Andrizzi with a cast of more than 50 performers and a 40-piece orchestra. Performances are Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 29 at 2 p.m. at the George Van Dusen Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. Single tickets are $25 - $50 with subscriptions available at OperaFestivalChicago.org.
The 2025 season concludes with one of the pillars of Italian opera and one of the most passionate dramas of all times, Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Sung in Italian, Pagliacci follows the story of a troupe of actors led by Canio and his unfaithful wife Nedda and features the famous aria “Vesti la giubba.” Love triangles, heartbreaks, betrayal and violent verismo vendettas erupt on stage, where art imitates life in this tragic masterpiece
In addition to Pagliacci, the Opera Festival of Chicago continues with its Young Artists program performing a delicious program featuring songs inspired by food in opera, Delicatessen Recital, June 5. The Opera Festival of Chicago's leading artists will then appear in concert for Love is a Triangle, June 14.
“The Chicago Opera Festival began this May with the incredible and rarely performedThe Love of Three Kings (L’Amore dei tre Re) and continues into June with more must see productions,” said General Director Sasha Gerritson. “All of us look forward to welcoming audiences to three different locations for three very special performances as we celebrate opera inspired by food, a concert embracing our 2025 theme of “Love is a Triangle” and concluding with one of the standards of opera - Pagliacci.”
The cast of Pagliacci includes Michelle Allie Drever (Nedda); Jonathan Burton (Canio); Franco Pomponi (Tonio); Jeref Fernandez (Peppe) and Jonathan Wilson (Silvio).
In addition, there will be a chorus including Floriana Bivona; Lizzie Broeker; Benjamin Burney; Melanie Budreck; Winifer Castaneda; Jorie Clark; Brooke Craig; Ryan Daly; Jade Dasha; Katrina Dubbs; Angela DeVenuto; Theresa Egan; David Green; Abigail Greer Arcamona; CeCe Hastreiter; Cameo Humes; Lauren Ingebrigtsen (COVER Nedda); Marina Karimi; Jess Koehn; Alexis Langlois; Ally Lewkowski; Joseph Lodato (COVER Tonio) Cary Lovett; Samantha McGonigal, Margaret Meierhenry; Gisella Milla; Lauryn Nelson, Chiemerie Obianom; Jennifer Parr; Brian Pember; Leo Radosavljevic; Dominic Martin Reyes; Sierra Shoemaker; Pamela Spann; Diana Stoic; Meg Thomas-Cary; Daniel Uglunts; Jose Vargas Ramirez; Carmen Vizin; Vince Wallace; Eric Wassenaar (COVER Pepe) and Kevin Wheatle.
Alan Glassman is the external cover for the role of “Canio.”
Finally, the children’s chorus includes Leah Born; Rachel Born; Ella McCarty; Sarah Winger; Emily Laginess; Rae Hill; Eliza Hinton and Riley Tone.
The creative team for Pagliacci includes Uff. Emanuele Andrizzi (conductor); Sasha Gerritson (director/supertitle design); Richard Robbins (chorus master); Catherine O’Shaunessy (assistant conductor); Darren Brown (production manager); Bill Morey (costume designer); Erzebet Schneider (costumes supervisor); Shane Cinal (set designer); Mike Goebel (lighting designer); Mary Mazurek (recording engineer); Melanie Saso (hair and wigs designer); Errin Austin (makeup designer); Gisella Milla (assistant to the director); Sebastian Medina (master electrician); Hannah Wein (assistant lighting designer); Kaitlyn Meine (stage manager); Lorenzo Formosa (house manager); James Juliano (SHOUT!) (publicity director); Jacob Little (production assistant); Luis Viva (orchestra manager) and Leo Radosavljevich (chorus accompanist)
ABOUT SASHA GERRITSON, GENERAL DIRECTOR
Sasha Gerritson is a highly sought after opera and musical theater stage director who directs for many local and regional companies, specializing in traditional productions of believed repertoire. For the Opera Festival of Chicago, Gerritson received rave reviews for her production of Assassinio nella Cathedrale (2023). She also is regularly involved with Music Theater Works where she recently directed Guys and Dolls (March 6 - 30, 2025), Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (2023) and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (2022) both to great critical acclaim.
Gerritson served as the Opera and Music Theatre director of Northeastern Illinois University from 2010-2022, has directed for Musica Nelle Marche (Urbino, Italy), Opera Piccola, DePaul University, the Cherub Music Theatre program for Northwestern University, in addition to various other summer programs in the area.
In addition to her stage direction work, she is a choral conductor and singer, serving as the director of music ministries for the Park Ridge Community Church. She also proudly serves on a number of boards city-wide, including The Brookfield Zoo, the Navy Pier Foundation, the Goodman Theatre and DePaul University, for which she is vice chair.
Gerritson lives in Glenview with her husband, Eugene Jarvis, and their two sons.
ABOUT OPERA FESTIVAL OF CHICAGO
The Opera Festival of Chicago presents world-class standard productions of Italian opera masterpieces in Chicago that rarely grace the stage in the United States. In doing so the Opera Festival of Chicago aspires to: generate an inquisitive operatic appetite within Chicago audiences; make its work – and its cultural context – accessible to a wide audience; provide a stimulating and inspirational environment of Italian opera for artists and audiences alike; provide a vital opportunity for young artists entering the profession to uphold the high integrity and demands of Italian opera with artists and musicians who are established professionals and to highlight and celebrate the immense talent that has originated from the Chicagoland area.
