January 18 — On This Day in Opera

18 January 1695: Teatro Capranica re-opened as a public theatre in Rome with a performance of the opera "Clearco in Negroponte" (jointly composed by Giovanni Lorenzo Lulier, Tommaso Gaffi, and Carlo Francesco Cesarini).

18 January 1893: Pietro Mascagni’s opera "Cavalleria rusticana" received its Mariinsky Theatre premiere (in Russian translation).

18 January 1903: Composer and conductor Berthold Goldschmidt (composer of the opera "Der gewaltige Hahnrei") was born in Hamburg.

18 January 1919: Composer Juan Orrego-Salas was born in Santiago, Chile (later wrote the opera "Viudas" among other stage works).

18 January 1922: Composer Antonio Bibalo (noted especially for operas, including "Miss Julie") was born in Trieste, Italy.

18 January 1930: Dmitri Shostakovich’s opera "The Nose" premiered at the Maly Operny Theatre in Leningrad.

18 January 2014: Mieczysław Weinberg’s opera "The Passenger" received its American premiere at Houston Grand Opera.

18 January 2017: American coloratura soprano Roberta Peters died in Rye, New York.