I Capuleti e i Montecchi from Vincenzo Bellini
I CAPULETI e i MONTECCHI, the romantic opera by the Italian composer Vincenzo BELLINI, based on the play "ROMEO and JULIET" by 16th century English poet and playwright William Shakespeare, that was premiered in the "Teatro la Fenice" in Venice. Two superb Bel Canto stars perform this marvelous masterpiece: Patrizia CIOFI and Laura POLVERELLI. Cristina MUTI, wife of renowned conductor Riccardo MUTI, directs. The lush use of multimedia projects us into the Italian Renaissance with beautiful images that emphasize the emotions of the protagonists.
Capellio, the chief of the Capuleti, refuses to agree to a pact through which his daughter Giulietta would marry Romeo of the Montecchi clan, and orders that her marriage to Tebaldo should go ahead immediately. Romeo fails to persuade Giulietta to elope, and so he and his supporters enter the city and disrupt the marriage celebrations.
Giulietta is informed by Lorenzo, the family doctor, that the only way to secure her freedom from Tebaldo is to take a sleeping potion that will give the impression that she is dead. She will be revived in the family vault, where he and Romeo will be waiting. The plan backfires when Lorenzo is arrested.
Romeo believes Giulietta to be dead and takes poison. But as he lies dying, Giulietta wakes up.
Hoping to avert the tragedy, Lorenzo rushes in, but he is too late: Romeo and Giulietta are lying dead in each other's arms.
February 2nd, 2010
7:00pm GMT + 1
