The Juliet Letters put to music letters to Shakespeare’s heroine
(Kansas City) Elvis Costello’s The Juliet Letters is a collection of songs for voice and string quartet, with a few quartet-only interludes. They had an unusual inspiration: Costello heard that the lovelorn actually write letters to Shakespeare’s Juliet and leave them at her supposed ‘balcony’ in Verona, Italy.
Costello came up with his own stylized “letters” and set them to music, using the idea as a platform for the exploration of young love. Costello’s emotional and poignant renderings of some of these letters became the song cycle The Juliet Letters. Brad Trexell, Artistic Administrator at the Kansas City Lyric Opera, says, “There’s a lot of fun songs, and great music too.”
The program will be sung by the Lyric Opera Resident Artists, a new program of the Opera which features up and coming artists. Performers are April Martin, Soprano; Samantha Gossard, Mezzo-Soprano; Casey Candebat, Tenor; and John Viscardi, Baritone.
The Juliet Letterswill be accompanied by the Fry Street Quartet, a string quartet hailed by The New York Times as “a triumph of ensemble playing.” The venue is the Michael and Ginger Frost Production Arts Building of the Lyric, located at 712 E 18th St., KCMO, which features a special scenic environment created for this concert.
Performances are Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35, $30 for Lyric Opera Subscribers and are available online at KCOpera.org, or by phone at (816) 471-7344. Ticket holders can enjoy a complimentary reception following the performance.
Copyright 2017 The Gayly – January 25, 2017 @ 2:55 p.m.