Organization

Singer

Soprano

Nicole Cabell

Juliet

Mezzo-soprano

Joyce DiDonato

Romeo

Tenor

Saimir Pirgu

Tebaldo

Bass

Eric Owens

Capellio

Conductor

Riccardo Frizza

Stage director

Vincent Boussard

Costume designer

Christian Lacroix

Set designer

Vincent Lemaire

Li Ao

Lorenzo

San Francisco Opera

Others

San Francisco Opera Chorus

Orchestra

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

Italian

I Capuleti e i Montecchi -  (The Capulets and the Montagues)

San Francisco

United States

War Memorial Opera House

This staging of the bel canto heavyweight stays faithful to the genre. High walls surround the two lovers, and Joyce di Donato's moving and powerful performance as Romeo wonderfully captures the hopelessness of their situation. Lacroix's elaborate costumes give the staging an aura of sophistication.

Public

The Capulets and the Montagues

English

Approved

The Capulets and the Montagues 2012-13 Season - Trailer

The Capulets and the Montagues 3 Minute Preview - San Francisco Opera

Enjoy Vincent Boussard's superb I Capuleti e Montecchi, Vincenzo Bellini 1830 bel canto masterpiece! This production features the talented Joyce DiDonato and Nicole Cabell as the two star-crossed lovers, joined by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Frizza. The costumes are designed by Christian Lacroix.

The origins of Bellini’s opera I Capuleti e Montecchi offer insight into challenging constraints faced by composers in Italy during the 19th century. After the poor reception of his last opera, Zaira, by early 1830, the composer needed to win back the public's good graces. Under pressure, Bellini and his librettist Felice Romani managed to put together I Capuleti e Montecchi in barely 7 weeks, creating a work indebted to their previous creations: he incorporated a considerable amount of reworked musical material taken from Zaira and Romani used a version of Giulietta e Romeo he had origianally written for Vaccai. In the end, the opera proves to be a great success: by 1833 it had already been performed in Dresden, Madrid, Paris and London. One interesting choice by Bellini was casting Romeo as a mezzo-soprano. Claudio Abbado’s 1966 la Scala production of the opera included a transcription of Romeo’s part for tenor, but this alternative interpretation of the role never became standard.

While writing his libretto, Felice Romani chose to return to the first 15th century Italian sources of the fabled love story. The most famous, by Matteo Bandello, dates to 1554, and was the original source for Shakespeare when writing his own Romeo and Juliet. Deviating from Shakespeare’s version, Romani chooses to refocus the story on its political context, and incorporates a scene omitted by the English playwright: Giulietta, believed dead by Romeo, awakens in the tomb just before Romeo's death, allowing the two lovers to exchange once more before they die.

The Capulets and the Montagues by Bellini, From (2012/2012), Directed by Vincent Boussard,, Conductor Riccardo Frizza, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, United States

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