Julietta

Julietta is an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, who also wrote the libretto, in French, based on the play Juliette, ou La clé des songes (Juliette, or The Key of Dreams) by the French author Georges Neveux. A libretto in Czech was later prepared for its 1938 premiere, and it has become widely considered as Martinů's masterpiece.

The opera received its first performance at the National Theatre, Prague on 16 March 1938, with Václav Talich conducting, a few months before Martinů made his last visit to his country of birth. Subsequently the opera has only been intermittently performed at that house; new productions were mounted in 1963 and 1989, and an Opera North production was seen three times in 2000; in March 2016 a new production was premiered at the theatre.

The UK premiere was given in April 1978 in London by the New Opera Company at the London Coliseum, conducted by Charles Mackerras in an English translation by Brian Large, with Joy Roberts and Stuart Kale in the principal roles. A production by the Bielefeld Opera in Germany conducted by Geoffrey Moull received eight performances in 1992.

While modern performances have been relatively rare, The Guardian notes performances by Opera North in 1997, and a production by Richard Jones in Paris in 2002 which was revived by English National Opera in London in September/October 2012 to enthusiastic reviews overall. Germany's Theater Bremen stages a new production opening on March 29, 2014 under the direction of John Fulljames. Andreas Homoki and Fabio Luisi staged a new production at Opernhaus Zürich with Joseph Kaiser as Michel in 2015. The Berlin Staatsoper premiered a new production on May 28, 2016 at its temporary Schillertheater home, with Daniel Barenboim conducting, Claus Guth directing, Magdalena Kožená as Julietta and Rolando Villazón as Michel.

...
Wikipedia