The tragic love story by William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet,” will be staged with operatic arias this fall in Seoul.

The Korea National Opera will perform an operatic version of the masterpiece at the Seoul Arts Center from October 2 to 5, to tunes composed by Charles Gounod (1818-1893).



Behind the creation of the opera is a world-class production crew, including Australian director Elijah Moshinsky and a creative team that has been active on the European scene. Moshinsky is known as the three-time winner of the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award in recognition of his outstanding production skills that make his shows feel like you're seeing a series of paintings.

For the upcoming shows, the director will bring his own palette of colors, especially ocean blue, to the stage, colors inspired by the architecture and paintings of the 15th-century Italian Renaissance.

Richard Hudson is also part of the production, too, as he designed all the stage settings, as well as the costumes for the cast. The Zimbabwean stage designer is best known for his work on the musical “The Lion King.” Conducting the orchestra is maestro Juian Kovatchev from Bulgaria, who studied for many years under Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989).

Tenor Francesco Demuro, often dubbed as the “best Romeo” in Europe, and tenor Kim Dong-won will revive the Romeo character. Juliet will be presented in turn by sopranos Irina Lungu from Russia and Sohn Anna.


The Juliet to be presented in this opera will be very independent and a bit provocative, exactly the way the character is described in the original play. In Act 1, Juliet shares erotic jokes about kisses with Romeo as they fall in love at first sight. As the most famous scene unfolds under Juliet’s balcony, she encourages Romeo to marry her.

“You might think of Juliet as being very shy and soft, but in fact she is quite a strong, active character,” said Sohn Anna, who plays the heroine, during a press conference on September 11. “I will bring out the serious, pure, and sometimes dramatic and aggressive side of Juliet.”

“I’ve tried to take the most essential, romantic elements from Shakespeare’s love story and Gounod’s music,” explained director Moshinsky. “You can feel things 'French' in the music, but the Shakespearean image is still there.”

The director continued to say that, “We’ve endeavored to find a way to make the story here sound poetic and have a heart-wrenching emotional impact on the audience, in a way that the impact gives a fresh shock of how the couple is destined to be in such ardent love, love for which they can give up their own life.”



By Sohn JiAe
Photos: the Korea National Opera
jiae5853@korea.kr