October 19, 2018
The Cleveland Opera presents the classic story of Romeo and Juliet, a chamber production based on the magnificent opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini, at Ursuline College on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. in Ursuline’s Daley Hall. Admission is free, while free-will offerings will be gratefully accepted.
“This timeless, tragic tale of the feud between two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, begins with a great love between Romeo and Juliet,” explained Dorota Sobieska, The Cleveland Opera’s executive artistic director. “Capellio, Juliet’s father and leader of the Capuleti, had already betrothed his daughter to Tebaldo. To make the situation more complicated, while in battle, Romeo had inadvertently killed Juliet’s brother. Romeo pleads for peace between two families. Alas, Capellio and Tebaldo want revenge. With the help of Juliet’s uncle, Lorenzo, the lovers concoct a plan to meet and escape together. But a wicked turn of events brings a tragic ending.”
The setting of the opera is Italian Renaissance. The opera will feature five soloists, acting in splendid costumes on a symbolically set stage: Elizabeth Frey as Romeo, Sobieska as Juliet, Brian Skoog as Tebaldo, Bryant Bush as Capellio and Mark J. Miller as Lorenzo. Frey, Skoog and Bush graduated with master’s degrees in voice from Cleveland Institute of Music. All singers have professional careers, while Sobieska specializes specifically in Bellini opera. She has sung six Bellini heroines and will provide stage directions for the show.
The opera will be sung in Italian with English translation projected above the stage during the performance for complete understanding of action. Jacek Sobieski will provide piano direction. The expected duration will be 1 hour 15 minutes.
About Ursuline College – Founded in 1871, Ursuline College is an accredited liberal arts college rooted in Catholic traditions of intellectual inquiry and social justice. Ursuline educates students for service, leadership and professional excellence through an array of undergraduate, graduate and degree-completion programs in the liberal arts, nursing, and professional studies. At Ursuline, women-focused undergraduate programs and co-educational graduate and degree-completion programs foster lifelong learning. The College offers 11 sports competing at the NCAA Division II level. www.ursuline.edu
About The Cleveland Opera – Established as "Opera Circle" in 1995 by Dorota Sobieska together with her husband, Jacek Sobieski, The Cleveland Opera is committed to opening the magical world of opera to everyone by presenting both beloved and unknown masterpieces. This dynamic company has produced nearly 50 operas in Italian, German, Polish, French, and English, most stage directed by Dorota Sobieska. May it help us see the beauty within every person. www.theclevelandopera.org
