Opera in Clinton always catches our eye somehow. It’s not New York, it’s not some metropolitan center and yet here it is, at Opera Theater of Connecticut’s MainStage at the Andrews Memorial Theater in the town hall complex. Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 will bring a famous clown to town hall in the opera “I Pagliacci” by Ruggero Leoncavallo — the first of OTC’s spring expansion program.

Leoncavallo wrote the opera in the late 19th century based on an incident in his childhood when a family servant was murdered in a dispute resulting from feelings over a village girl. He wrote the opera in the dynamic “verismo” (realism) style; it quickly became popular for its Bell Chorus, melodic Intermezzo and the moving “Vesti la giubba,” often referred to as “Laugh, Clown, Laugh.” Kyle Swann will conduct, accompanied on piano by Jill Brunelle and a chorus.