Cavalleria rusticana on stage. They were invited to submit a one-act opera which would be judged by a jury of five prominent Italian critics and composers. The best three would be staged in Rome at Sonzogno's expense. Mascagni heard about the competition only two months before the closing date and asked his friend Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, a poet and professor of literature at the Italian Royal Naval Academy in Livorno, to provide a libretto. Targioni-Tozzetti chose "Cavalleria rusticana", a popular short story (and play) by Giovanni Verga, as the basis for the opera. He and his colleague Guido Menasci set about composing the
Giancarlo Monsalve the pioneers of the Chilean street theater in the 80's and later with Hollywood Stars coach Bernard Hiller. Giancarlo Monsalve made his professional debut in Italy, with the Opera Paolo e Francesca from Luigi Mancinelli season 2006 of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna where he returned in 2012 for the Opera Cavalleria Rusticana. After his debut Monsalve's career has spanned to major global opera houses, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Arena di Verona, Zürich Opera House, Lausanne Opera, Royal Opera House Muscat Sultanate of Oman, The Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center, Bayerische Staatsoper, Sejong Center for the Performing