Gounod: Romeo et Juliette -- film version

Starring: Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna Director: Barbara Willis Sweete Original UK Premiere: 2002 Dvd Release: 3rd March, 2003 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Widescreen, Region 0 Encoding Subtitled In: English, French, German, Spanish

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Charles François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his opera Faust. Gounod was born in Paris & learned music with his mother as a child. He entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied under Fromental Halevy. He won the Prix de Rome in 1839 for his cantata Ferdinand. He subsequently went to Italy where he studied the music of Palestrina. Gounod wrote his first opera in 1851, but had no great success until Faust, based on the play by Goethe. This remains his best known work, although the opera Roméo et Juliette, premiered in 1867, is also performed & recorded regularly. Later in his life, Gounod wrote mainly religious music, including the song Ave Maria, which was based on the first prelude from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier by J,S. Bach. Gounod died in 1893 in Saint-Cloud in France.

The singing & playing is first rate. The first time I had seen this opera & it was accessible, well paced, & very tuneful. A very pared down version of the story as Shakespeare told it but recognisable nevertheless & well balanced. The setting for this production is a beautiful castle in a wonderful countryside in the Czech republic. So several scenes do not really fit the story in a city in Italy. Very attractive I would say rather than moving.

Opera singer Angela Gheorghiu is one of the most famous contemporary sopranos. A fiery & intense stage actress, Gheorghiu has a particular affinity for the operas of Verdi & Puccini, as well as the verismo school. She also performs & records the music of her native Romania, whether operatic, lieder, popular or Orthodox church music. The daughter of a train driver, Gheorghiu was born as Angela Burlacu in Adjud. Along with her sister Elena, she sang opera music from a very early age. At age 13, Gheorghiu went to study singing at the Bucharest Music Academy, primarily under Mia Barbu. Her graduation in 1989 coincided with the overthrow of Nicolae Ceaucescu, enabling her to seek out an international career immediately. She made her international debut in 1992 at Covent Garden as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, followed in 1993 by debuts at the Vienna State Opera as Adina in LElisir dAmore & the Metropolitan Opera as Mimi in La Bohème. Her performances of Violetta in Verdis La Traviata at Covent Garden in 1994 catapulted her to international stardom. Posters Of La Traviata

Editors Choice: Gounod, Romeo Et Juliette, La Traviata, Verdi, Royal Opera House, Lelisir Damore, Puccini, Donizetti, View DVDology

The tenor Roberto Alagna is French Opera singer. Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-bois, Paris, France. His family of Sicilian immigrants was very musically talented & young Alagna began singing pop in Parisian cabarets as a teenager. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza, but also from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera. He is largely self-taught as a singer, but he learned most of the tenor repertory from Cuban contrabassist & opera fan Rafael Ruiz. After winning the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition, Alagna made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France & Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew & he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 & the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in La Bohème. Posters Of Donizetti

Editors Choice: Donizetti, Prom At The Palace, Don Carlos, Gounod, Romeo Et Juliette, Verdi, Lelisir Damore, Cyrano De Bergerac, View DVDology

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