Roméo & Juliette

Jules Barbier, one of the most important librettists of the 19th century, began his career with the production of his intermède, L'Ombre de Molière, at the Comédie-Française (1847). In the years that followed, Barbier worked with Labiche, Decourcelle and Battu but, between 1849 and 1872, his main collaborator was Michel Carré, with whom he produced plays, comedies, vaudevilles, and opera librettos. The prolific Barbier-Carré duo was responsible for many of the most famous works on the French opera stage. For Gounod, they wrote the librettos for the Médecin malgré lui (1858), Faust (1859), Philémon et Baucis (1860), La Reine de Saba (1862), and Roméo and Juliette (1867); for Meyerbeer, Le Pardon de Ploërmel (1859); and for Ambroise Thomas, Psyché (1857), Mignon (1866), Hamlet (1868), and Françoise de Rimini (1882).

After Carré’s death, Barbier worked with Léo Delibes (the ballet Sylvia, 1876) and with Offenbach (The Tales of Hoffmann, 1881). Barbier translated lieder by Schumann and wrote several librettos in collaboration with his son Pierre, including Daphnis et Chloé for Henri Maréchal (1899) and Le Tasse for Eugène d’Harcourt (1903). Barbier’s librettos adapted various world-famous literary masterpieces (Corneille, Shakespeare, Goethe) for the opera stage. Although these models were, by necessity, simplified, they were not changed beyond recognition and lived up to the expectations of composers and audiences alike in the French Second Empire and the early years of the Third Republic. After the fire at the second Salle Favart, Barbier was appointed acting director of the Opéra-Comique (May-December 1887).

From Bru Zane Mediabase

Named “a born bel canto tenor” by The New York Times, Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang’s 2022/23 Season sees his house debut with Hong Kong Opera as Alfredo in La Traviata, as well as house debuts at Ópera de Oviedo as the title role in Ernani and his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Teatro de la Maestranza. Additional engagements include Verdi’s Requiem with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by music director Gustavo Dudamel, and with the South Florida Master Chorale.

The 2021/22 Season saw Chang’s house debut with Palm Beach Opera as Nemorino in The Elixir of Love conducted by music director David Stern, and an appearance as a featured performer on the Bolshoi Theater’s 2022 gala alongside René Pape, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Eva Maria Westbroek, and Marco Armiliato. Orchestral engagements included Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Washington National Cathedral, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with San Francisco Symphony conducted by Daniel Stewart and with San Diego Symphony conducted by music director Rafael Payare.

Operatic highlights include multiple performances at The Metropolitan Opera including as Nemorino in The Elixir of Love, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier opposite Renée Fleming, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Fourth Squire in Parsifal. Additional operatic highlights include Rodolfo in La Bohème conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and Ismaele in Nabucco at Los Angeles Opera, Rodolfo in La Bohéme and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Santa Fe Opera, and Alfredo in La Traviata with Washington National Opera, Atlanta Opera, Oper Frankfurt, and North Carolina Opera. Chang made his house and role debuts as the title role in Massenet’s Werther with Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, his house debut at Norwegian National Opera as the Duke in Rigoletto, and at Arizona Opera as Rodolfo in La Bohème. Highlights at Oper Frankfurt include performances as Lenski in Yevgeny Onegin, the Italian Singer in Capriccio, Cassio in Otello, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier, the Duke in Rigoletto, the title role in Roberto Devereux, and Rodolfo in La Bohème.

Orchestral highlights include Chang’s Hollywood Bowl debut as Cassio in Otello with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier with the National Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Guatemala, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Centroamericana in Nicaragua, a concert in Puerto Rico honoring Giuseppe Verdi with Teatro de la Opera, his debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne in Rennes, France, and as a guest soloist with the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra. Chang made his Carnegie Hall debut in a concert with the Musical Olympus Foundation and then returned to appear in recital as part of the Marilyn Horne Song Foundation.

Honors and awards include First Prize, Zarzuela Prize, and audience favorite at the 2014 Operalia Competition, Top Prize in the 2014 Gerda Lissner Foundation competition, a Festival Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot career grant in 2013, a 2012 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award grant for promising Young Classical Artists, and the 2011 overall First Prize, Plácido Domingo Prize, and ‘Amigos de Sabadell’ Prize in the Francisco Viñas Competition at the Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona. Chang has also received awards from the Concurso de Canto Lírico de Trujillo, Perú, and the Asociación Artista del Año and Asociación Dante Alighieri in Guatemala.

Chang is founder and director of Querido Arte Opera de Guatemala, the first opera company in Guatemala, a Center for the Development of the Arts (Centro de Perfeccionamiento para las Artes), and a youth orchestra and chorus program, creating a platform for the development and promotion for the arts and supporting hundreds of young musicians and emerging artists to reach their dreams. In recognition of this work, Chang was appointed with the ‘Medalla del Quetzal’ and ‘Cambio de la Rosa de la Paz’ by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of his country, making him ambassador of peace and culture in Guatemala.

Chang was a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera and holds an Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies program at the Juilliard School.

Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols has been praised for her “dynamic range and vocal acrobatics” (Classical Voice) in theaters across the United States. In the summer of 2022, Echols reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Clara in Porgy and Bess in her debut with Des Moines Metro Opera, in addition to her debut with the Cleveland Orchestra for their annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert and her return to Cincinnati Opera for a special performance alongside Morris Robinson in Morris and Friends.

In the 2022/23 Season, Echols returned to LA Opera as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar, debuted the role of Juliette in Roméo and Juliette with Opera San Antonio, and made her long-awaited return to the Kennedy Center reprising the role of Musetta in La Bohème with Washington National Opera.

In the 2021/22 Season, Echols was featured at The Metropolitan Opera both as Clara in Porgy and Bess and as Noemie in the Met’s family adaptation of Massenet’s Cendrillon. Additional performances at The Metropolitan Opera include Pousette in Manon and Musetta in La Bohème. Echols has been seen at the Kennedy Center under the auspices of Washington National Opera in the title role of La Traviata, the role of Sister Helen in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Micaela in Carmen, as well as Woglinde/Forest Bird in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Additional performances include Clara in Porgy and Bess with the Atlanta Opera as well as the title role in La Traviata with Palm Beach Opera. A frequent performer of both standard and contemporary repertoire, Echols debuted the role of Helen in the world premiere performances of The Summer King at the Pittsburgh Opera in 2017 and reprised the role in her hometown of Detroit with Michigan Opera Theater in 2018. Echols has performed the role of Pip in Heggie’s Moby Dick with the Los Angeles, Dallas and Pittsburgh Operas. On the concert stage, Echols has performed with the Ann Arbor Symphony for their 2017 Season opening gala concert, and returned to the symphony for her first performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Echols made her debut with the Memphis Symphony in performances of Handel’s Messiah.

Recent seasons have seen Echols with North Carolina Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in La Traviata, and Musetta in La Bohème, as well as with The Glimmerglass Festival as Pamina in The Magic Flute, Giulietta in King for a Day, and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. Echols reprised the role of Musetta in 2017 in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Ward Stare. A graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, Echols was seen in previous seasons at the Kennedy Center as Micaëla in Carmen, the Unicorn in the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, Clorinda in La Cenerentola, and Woglinde and Forest Bird in Wagner’s full Ring Cycle conducted by Music Director Philippe Auguin. Echols made her debut with the Tanglewood Festival reprising the role of Woglinde in Das Rheingold conducted by Andris Nelsons.

Additional appearances include Cincinnati Opera as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, First Lady in The Magic Flute, and Clara in Porgy and Bess; Micaela in Carmen with Eugene Opera; and New York Harlem Productions as both Clara and Bess in Porgy and Bess, for which Echols was featured in the documentary Porgy and Me which premiered in Germany in January 2010.

Echols is a 2012 second prize winner at the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. Echols completed her master’s degree and artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she appeared as the Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress, and Pamina in The Magic Flute.

Bass Matthew Anchel, called "a voice to watch" by The Wall Street Journal, has performed with many of the world’s leading companies and orchestras. During both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Seasons, Anchel has joined the ensemble of Oper Stuttgart for a number of roles, including Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Benoit in La Bohème, Crespel/Luther in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, The Cook in Love of Three Oranges, and Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro. Anchel spent the summer of 2019 at the Glyndebourne Festival, covering Sarastro in The Magic Flute. In recent seasons, Anchel has returned to The Metropolitan Opera, covering in new productions of The Exterminating Angel and Cendrillon. Anchel also joined Santa Fe Opera to cover Tsar Dodon in their production of The Golden Cockerel, made his company debut with St. Petersburg Opera as Sarastro, returned to Spoleto Festival USA as Lamberto in Pia de' Tolomei, and performed the Bass Solo in Mahler’s 8th Symphony at Carnegie Hall. In the fall of 2020, Anchel joined Stadttheater Giessen as Banquo in Macbeth and was slated to join Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck in 2021 as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (COVID-19). In the 2021/22 Season, Anchel performed as the bass soloist in Mozart Requiem with Stiftsmusik Stuttgart, made his On Site Opera debut as Claggart in What Lies Beneath, returned to The Metropolitan Opera by making his debut singing Master of Ceremonies in Cinderella, Jailer in Tosca and covered Schwarz in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Un moine in Don Carlos and made his role and house debut as Vanuzzi in Die Schweigsame Frau at Bard Summerscape. During the 2022/23 Season, Anchel made his Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera debuted as Sarastro in The Magic Flute.

Previous seasons have included Anchel’s debut with Anchorage Opera as Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Anchel's Carnegie Hall/Stern Auditorium debut as a soloist in Haydn's Mass in Time of War with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, Dvorak's Stabat Mater with the St. George's Choral Society, and his return to the Metropolitan Opera, covering the role of Trojan Man in Idomeneo, 2nd Armored Man in The Magic Flute, and Waiter #3 in Der Rosenkavalier. During the 2015/16 Season, Anchel performed the role of #8 in Conrad Susa's Transformations with the Merola Opera Program, was a soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C with Spoleto Festival USA, and completed engagements with Annapolis Chorale, Savannah Voice Festival, Canterbury Chorale and American Lyric Theater. In the 2014/15 Season, Anchel returned to The Metropolitan Opera for their productions of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Magic Flute, and Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg, and made debuts with Opera San Antonio as First Soldier in Salome, with LOFTOpera as Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia, and with the Annapolis Chorale as a soloist in Bach's St. John Passion.

In the 2013/14 Season, Anchel joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for its productions of The Nose and The Magic Flute, and made multiple appearance at Opera San Jose as both the Bonze in Madame Butterfly and Ferrando in Il Trovatore. Anchel performed the bass solo in Mozart’s Requiem with Allentown Symphony, and returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Sarastro, a production directed and designed by Isaac Mizrahi.

In 2011 and 2012, Anchel was a member of the Ensemble of Oper Leipzig, where his performances included Zaretski in Eugene Onegin, Alaska Wolf Joe in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Marquis D'Obigny in La Traviata, and The Police Inspector in Der Rosenkavalier, among others. Previously, Anchel was a member of the LA Opera’s Young Artist Program, where he performed the roles of Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Fourth Noble in Lohengrin, both under the baton of James Conlon. Anchel also joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Dr. Chausable in the world premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Other performance highlights include Haraste in Troilus and Cressida and First Soldier in Salome with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Familiare in Maria di Rohan with the Caramoor Festival, and the title role in The Marriage of Figaro in his international debut with the Intermezzo Festival in Brugge, Belgium.

An accomplished veteran of the competition circuit, Anchel was a Grand Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, won 3rd Place in the Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Judges Award from the Opera Index Competition, an Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, and was a Finalist and an Encouragement Award winner in the Loren L. Zachary Competition. Born and raised in New York City, Matthew Anchel earned his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Praised for his “healthy and soaring tenor voice” (The Herald Times), Korean American Brad Bickhardt is a vibrant and versatile performer in both the operatic and musical theatre canon. Highlight performances have included Nemorino (The Elixir of Love), Tony (West Side Story), and Alfredo (La Traviata), as well as originating the role of Colin in We Wear the Sea Like a Coat. Additional 2021/22 appearances have included filming Stone Soup for Tri-Cities Opera, appearing in recital with Chelsea Opera and Maryland Opera, and as a guest artist at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. Bickhardt has previously appeared with Opera Saratoga in their critically acclaimed production of Man of La Mancha under the baton of Broadway conductor, Laura Bergquist, as well as in Opera Naples’ productions of West Side Story and La Traviata.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bickhardt was on the roster of The Glimmerglass Festival in productions of Wagner’s Die Feen as well as The Sound of Music, and in 2019, was a member of the prestigious Wolf Trap Opera Studio in which he covered and performed principal roles in L’heure espagnole, Lîle de Merlin, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Ariadne auf Naxos. On the concert stage, he has appeared as the tenor soloist in Schubert’s Mass in G, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and Mozart’s Miss Brevis in Bb.

Bickhardt received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Vocal Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he appeared in 13 productions with IU Opera Theater as well as serving as an Associate Instructor of Voice. Bickhardt's graduate thesis consisted of compiling an anthology of musical theatre repertoire for undergraduate tenors and their pedagogical applications, and he was named an Encouragement Award from the Central Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Council. Bickhardt is a proud alumnus of the rosters of Tri-Cities Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Naples, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Saratoga, and Charlottesville Opera. Bickhardt's primary vocal instruction has been under renowned baritone Andreas Poulimenos and husband and wife team Kevin and Heidi Grant Murphy.

Dramatic mezzo-soprano, Danielle Corella, is a 7th generation Arizona native. Most recently, Corella returned home from Chicago after pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Voice Performance at DePaul University. Corella has a particular love for bringing music to the community. At Long Beach Opera, Corella worked as an education artist and regularly performed children’s operas for elementary school students in English and Spanish. Some of Corella’s favorite mezzo-soprano roles to perform are the Composer, Santuzza, Eboli, and Carmen. Corella lives in Prescott with her husband, new baby, and cat.

Described as a “storyteller with a compelling presence” (Pittsburgh Tribune) whose “direct and clearer tenor voice is the perfect vehicle for the ‘leading romantic man’ persona” (DC Metro Arts), tenor Carlos Feliciano has been praised for his performances both in opera and on the concert stage.

Feliciano recently performed as the tenor soloist for Beethoven's Symphony No .9 with the Arizona State University Orchestra and Choirs. In the 2018/19 Season, Feliciano returned to Western Plains Opera to perform the role of Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Feliciano was the tenor soloist in Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla, a work he performs regularly, in a benefit concert for the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos organization, and appeared in concerts with the New York Opera Society and the Tucson Desert Chorale.

The 2017/18 Season included a company debut as Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld with the Western Plains Opera, understudy of the title role in Faust for St. Petersburg Opera, the role of Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, a performance of Misa Criolla as the tenor soloist with the State College Choral Society and the Mass in C minor by Mozart, also as the tenor, with the Tucson Desert Chorale.

In 2016, Feliciano was featured as a soloist during the televised Canonization Mass for Junipero Serra, officiated by Pope Francis at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. A proponent of new music, Feliciano was heard in New York Opera Society’s Supersize Girl and Max und Moritz, both children’s operas by Norwegian composer Gisle Kvendokk, as well as understudy the main tenor role in the world premiere of El Pasado Nunca se Termina, which toured at Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Diego Opera. As a former Pittsburgh Opera alumnus, Feliciano performed as the Messagiero in Aida and Philistine Messenger in Samson et Dalila.

Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Feliciano performed as a soloist with Lyric Opera of Chicago in Canciones y arias; a cantar con toda el alma, with the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra as a soloist for Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, Symphony No. 2, and in Bach’s St. John’s Passion with the State College Choral Society.

Feliciano has received numerous grants and awards, including from the Pittsburgh Concert Society, Sprout Fund, and the Pittsburgh Arts Council for his work in Latin American classical and folk music. Feliciano was the first place recipient at the Five Towns Music and Arts Foundation Vocal Competition, and the fifth place recipient in the Southwest Vocal Competition presented by Phoenix Opera.

Feliciano received his Bachelor's degree from The Manhattan School of Music, his Master’s at Penn State University and is an alumnus of The Juilliard School. Feliciano is pursuing his Doctorate's in Musical Arts Degree from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at the Arizona State University.

Stephanie Rhodes Russell is an alum of the Dallas Opera’s Institute for Women Conductors, the Houston Grand Opera Studio and San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program. Rhodes Russell was a Conducting Fellow with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2021, where she appeared regularly with the ensemble leading education, family, and community concerts while serving as cover conductor for the symphonic subscription series. Rhodes Russell is also the recipient of a 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, designed to aid outstanding young conductors in developing their talents and careers.

Rhodes Russell’s 2022/23 Season includes company debuts with Austin Opera (The Barber of Seville) and Utah Opera (La fille du régiment), as well as a return to Madison Opera (The Marriage of Figaro). During the summer of 2023, Rhodes Russell makes her Cincinnati Opera debut, conducting performances of The Knock. The previous season included Rhodes Russell return to Wolf Trap Opera, leading performances of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, her debut with Opera Orlando conducting Verdi’s La Traviata, and a collaboration with Lyric Opera of Chicago, leading a workshop of Git Here (Daniel Bernard Roumain/Anna Deavere Smith) and Four Portraits (Caroline Shaw/Jocelyn Clark). Rhodes Russell initially planned to serve as Music Director for Opera Philadelphia’s production of Henze’s El Cimarrón during the season, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to the effects of COVID-19.

Stephanie Rhodes Russell’s 2020/21 Season included scheduled returns to the Dallas Opera to conduct Bizet’s Dr. Miracle, a concert of opera excerpts at the NorthPark Center, and the highly anticipated “Lawrence Brownlee: Songs for Dallas” concert in the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Additionally, Rhodes Russell conducted a filmed production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the Temple University Opera Program, and in the summer of 2021 she joined Madison Opera for their annual Opera in the Park program.

Rhodes Russell frequently draws on her Russian specialty, and during the summer of 2020, conducted excerpts of Tchaikovksy’s Eugene Onegin for Wolf Trap Opera, a change from the scheduled full production due to COVID-19.  A Fulbright award recipient in Russia, Rhodes Russell lived in Moscow specializing in Russian repertoire and pronunciation for non-native singers while working as a guest coach at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. Rhodes Russell was thereafter commissioned by The Dallas Opera to transliterate Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and has taught workshops on Russian diction for singers at young artist programs and universities across the United States. Immediately following her 2020 performances with Wolf Trap Opera, Rhodes Russell returned to Fort Worth to lead the Symphony Orchestra in the Concerts in the Garden 4th of July performances.

Following her work on the San Francisco Opera Ring Cycle, Rhodes Russell was appointed the 2019 Associate Conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival, where she served as assistant to Music Director Donald Runnicles and led the GTMF orchestra in the Hartley Family Concert. Additionally, Rhodes Russell performed as a pianist in the festival’s renowned Chamber Music Concert Series.

Other recent engagements include concerts with the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, performances of Handel’s Alcina at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, an engagement with Washington National Opera’s forum for new works, the American Opera Initiative, and The Magic Flute and Dido and Aeneas with the Miami Music Festival. Highlights as an Assistant Conductor include work on two Wagner Ring Cycles with conductors Philippe Auguin and Donald Runnicles and productions of Iolanta, Eugene Onegin, and Queen of Spades with Emmanuel Villaume and Carlo Rizzi. Rhodes Russell has served on the music staff of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, The Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Washington National Opera, amongst others, and her extensive operatic experience in the roles of assistant conductor, prompter, chorusmaster, rehearsal pianist, and diction coach, brings a comprehensive understanding to her work.

Beginning in autumn 2022, Stephanie Rhodes Russell will be Associate Professor and Music Director of Opera at the University of North Texas. This position intersects with Rhodes Russell’s strong interest in educating the next generation of artists, which also led her to found the non-profit Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative (Women’s ALI). The organization’s aim is to educate and empower young female artists, training them to become future community leaders by equipping them with both leadership skills and business acumen. Rhodes Russell holds degrees in Collaborative Piano and Piano Performance from the University of Michigan and Utah State University, respectively, and completed a doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Utah.