The Canio in last night's Pagliacci was Antonello Palombi, who Speight Jenkins (General Director of Seattle Opera) has rightly been raving about as a true dramatic Verdi tenor. (Pagliacci is not a Verdi opera, but requires a tenor voice similar to the big, dramatic Verdi roles such as Otello.)
What I didn't realize until I was reading the rest of the program this morning is that Palombi was the guy who stepped in, wearing street clothes, when Roberto Alagna walked off the stage of La Scala in the middle of a performance of Aida. Check out the look on the soprano's face when she sees Palombi make his entrance:
And, funny enough, we'll be seeing Palombi next season as Radames in Seattle Opera's production of Aida.