2019–20 Season

Romeo & Juliet

MUSIC BY CHARLES GOUNOD

 

The blossom of first love
Sacrificed on the altar of pride and hate.

 

Despite the senseless, bloody conflict between their warring families, two young lovers commit to each other in life and death. Experience the rush of first love in one of the most epic tragic romances.

Production New to San Francisco Opera

Meet the Cast

Sung in French with English supertitles


See Photos

SEE PHOTOS

HEAR THE MUSIC

HEAR THE MUSIC

WATCH VIDEOS

WATCH VIDEOS

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Curious about the Opera?

Pre-Opera Talks

Perfect for newcomers, opera aficionados or anyone in between, our pre-opera talks provide an engaging 25-minute overview of the opera. Free to ticketholders, 55 minutes prior to curtain (except for Opening Night) in the Orchestra section. Speaker: Alexandra D. Amati

Opera Previews

Explore Romeo and Juliet in a 90-minute presentation by Timothy Flynn. Events held thorughout the Bay Area August 26-28 and cost varies by location. Learn more.

Open Curtain

Have you always wanted to see the inner workings of our stage? At select performances, our curtain is open during intermission and we narrate the live changeover. Dates: Tuesday, September 24 and Sunday, September 29.

 

REVIEWS

[Pene Pati’s] got a vigorous, full-bodied sound with a lustrous mid-range and glorious, perfectly placed top notes

— San Francisco Chronicle

Perhaps best of all, Pati… has that magical, indescribable charisma that radiates beyond the footlights

— San Francisco Chronicle

Soprano Nadine Sierra… tackled the glittering passagework and high-flying roulades with precision

— San Francisco Chronicle

Conductor Yves Abel and the Opera Orchestra rose superbly to their assignments

— San Francisco Chronicle

Baritone Lucas Meachem was a standout as Romeo’s fellow Montague Mercutio, sporting dramatic heft and robust resonance

— The San Francisco Examiner

READ MORE

 

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PROGRAM ARTICLES

From Page to Opera Stage

All the world loves a lover, but some ages love lovers more than others do. For example, when Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was first performed in the mid-1590s, it would not have been difficult to find members of the audience who took a distinctly jaundiced view of Romeo and Juliet’s defiance of family interests and honor in order to satisfy their own romantic desires. Read more.

Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette

By 1867 Napoleon III’s Second Empire seemed to be approaching the glorious new future he had promised. Paris had been rebuilt by the indefatigable Baron Haussmann with grand new boulevards lined with trees and handsome buildings, the low-rise Paris that we know today. Read more.

Potion or Poison

“Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink—I drink to thee!” [SHE DRINKS, AND FALLS UPON HER BED WITHIN THE CURTAINS.] So ends the dramatic soliloquy Shakespeare gives his heroine as she steels herself for downing Friar Lawrence’s potion to give her the “borrowed likeness of shrunk death.” Read more.

Synopsis

Despite a senseless conflict between their warring families, two young lovers commit to each other in life and death.

 

READ COMPLETE SYNOPSIS >

 

CAST AND CREATIVE

CAST
Romeo Pene Pati
Juliet Nadine Sierra
Juliet Amina Edris 1
Mercutio Lucas Meachem
Friar Lawrence James Creswell
Count Capulet Timothy Mix
Tybalt Daniel Montenegro
Duke of Verona Philip Skinner
Stephano Stephanie Lauricella *
Gertrude Eve Gigliotti *
Gregorio SeokJong Baek
Benvolio Christopher Oglesby
Paris Hadleigh Adams

PERFORMANCES

Sep 6, 13, 18, 21, 24, 29; Oct 1

CREATIVE
Conductor Yves Abel
Director Jean-Louis Grinda *
Associate Director Vanessa d’Ayral de Serignac *
Set Designer Eric Chevalier *
Costume Designer Carola Volles *
Lighting Designer Roberto Venturi *
Fight Director Dave Maier
Choreographer Lawrence Pech
Chorus Director Ian Robertson

* San Francisco Opera debut

1  Oct 1

 Teatro Carlo Felice and Opéra de Monte-Carlo co-production.

 

Previous performances of Romeo and Juliet can be found in our Archive.

MADE POSSIBLE BY

Opening Weekend Grand Sponsor, Diane B. Wilsey.

Additional support is provided by John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn; the Edmund W. and Jeannik Méquet Littlefield Fund; Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem; and Joan and David Traitel.

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See our full season line-up >