In San Diego Opera’s production of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci October 31 to November 2, Korean baritone Kidon Choi sings the role of Tonio. Choi is returning to San Diego, where he was very warmly received as Sharpless in the April 2024 production of Madame Butterfly with Corinne Winters and Adam Smith.

I wanted to find out a little more about Choi, a young singer who is just starting out in his career. Choi graduated recently from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development program. Since, he has performed at various opera houses in Korea and the United States, including the title role of Rigoletto at Wolf Trap Opera.

Choi started his journey to opera during high school when he would do imitations of Luciano Pavarotti to make his classmates laugh. One of his teachers noticed and encouraged him to study voice seriously. Choi had wanted to be an architect but found that he really enjoyed shaping phrases and putting his own ideas into the music practice. Seeing his first opera at 19 was a shock – the musical sound, the orchestra, the voice of the singers. Choi says he especially enjoyed the voice quality of opera. “I sing because I love it,” says Choi. “When I prepare productions or songs or arias or operas, I pay attention with all my heart. I love that process. Of course, I love to sing on stage but the process also means a lot to me. I really love to put my emotions into the character.”

Pagliacci, a verismo opera composed in 1892, is a story within a story. In the commedia dell’arte play the actors are performing, the pagliaccio (clown) suspects his wife of being unfaithful. At the same time, the story plays out in real life among the actors, and the jealous Canio discovers that his wife Nedda is having an affair with Silvio.

The character of Tonio in Pagliacci is usually described as a jealous clown because he wants vengeance after Nedda rejects his advances. He sets the wheel in motion for the opera’s tragic end by telling Canio that he has seen Nedda with another man. However Choi says there is much more to the character of Tonio, as well as to the opera.

“This opera still speaks to us today,” says Choi. “It’s more than about jealousy. It’s about suffering and how dangerous it can be when humiliation and rage explode in front of everyone.”

“Pagliacci is about how private pain becomes public spectacle. The actors put on makeup and perform but behind the stage they are living with heartbreak and betrayal and violence,” says Choi. “Today we see the same thing with social media. People put on a show of control and happiness but behind the scenes they feel loneliness and rejection.”

“When Nedda rejects Tonio, it shows how rejection can turn into anger and even violence. It’s what we call incel culture nowadays, when people feel ignored or humiliated,” says Choi. “Tonio becomes meaner. He’s really impacted by the rejection. He turns into something like a devil.”

The role of Tonio has unique challenges says Choi because his character has to take on a very full range of emotions. “In the prologue, Tonio reminds us this story is about real people. He makes us think about how we watch suffering as entertainment. Those are things we do today when we watch true crime series or shows like Viral Scandal. People enjoy the crime. It’s like in real life. We watch tragedy like it’s entertainment,” says Choi. “Pagliacci is very relevant today.”

“In the act one duet with Nedda, I try to sing more lyrically as I declare my love to her, and then when she rejects me, I turn into a totally different person. I turn into a devil. At first it’s love then it’s hate and shouting,” says Choi. “The character is angry, jealous, heartbroken. I feel it in my body when I sing it, but as a singer, I still have to maintain the line and make it musical. Sometimes my body wants to shout, but the voice has to stay beautiful and healthy. That’s the challenging thing.”

“Canio is a person. He’s real. It could be anyone. Because of misinformation, he becomes crazy and then kills his lover,” says Choi. “Sometimes everyone feels angry. When I feel angry, I can control it, but sometimes, I can lose the control. Canio can be everyone, he’s a clown on stage, a sad clown, but he’s a wounded man.”

Choi has found operatic inspiration in what he calls old fashioned baritones such as Tito Gobbi, Piero Cappucilli, and Juan Pons. In the future, he would really like to sing Verdi’s Macbeth. “I’m still too young for that,” he says. “I already sing Rigoletto. I love Verdi and Puccini.”

San Diego Opera’s production of Pagliacci opens October 31, 2025. Details are available here.