Cavalleria rusticana sensation, with Mascagni taking 40 curtain calls and winning the First Prize. Although Mascagni had started writing two other operas earlier ("Pinotta", premiered in 1932, and "Guglielmo Ratcliff", premiered in 1895), "Cavalleria rusticana" was his first opera to be completed and performed. It remains the best known of his fifteen operas and one operetta ("Sì" ). Apart from "Cavalleria rusticana", only "Iris" and "L'amico Fritz" have remained in the standard repertory, with "Isabeau" and "Il piccolo Marat" on the fringes of the Italian repertoire. Its success has been phenomenal ever since its first performance. At the time of Mascagni's death
John Keyes (tenor) "Otello", Samson in "Samson et Dalila", Tristan in "Tristan und Isolde", Turridu in "Cavalleria Rusticana", Walther in "Tannhäuser", and the title roles in "Don Carlos", "Lohengrin", Verdi's "Otello", "Parsifal", and "Siegfried". He is also active as a concert soloist, and is particularly known for his performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9". John Keyes (tenor) John Keyes is an American operatic tenor who specializes in the dramatic repertoire. After studies in Chicago, he apprenticed and performed at both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Houston Grand Opera during the late 1980s. In 1990 he won an international singing