Beautiful bel canto singing with real star quality marks out this revival by The Royal Opera of Bellini ’s version of the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet. Music of poise and elegance shows off not just Bellini’s great command of stirring melody but also the sheer virtuosity of the singers.

The tone is set from Tebaldo’s opening tenor aria ‘E serbata a questo acciaro’, here to be sung by Darío Schmunck, who has been widely acclaimed for his skill in this repertory. And this revival is also fortunate indeed to have at its centre the star pairing of Anna Netrebko as Giulietta and Elna Garana as Romeo for a performance to match musical heights with dramatic and emotional depths.

The production and its designs place the work firmly in Renaissance Verona, where the doomed romance of the lovers plays out against a backdrop of civil war and political strife that will be refreshingly different for those who only know the version Shakespeare tells (the opera takes its cue from much earlier versions of the story).

This is a Season highlight for anyone who takes delight in the lyricism of the human voice and the virtuoso skill of Italian bel canto opera, here with Bellini’s unfailing sense of vocal line perfectly matched to the dramatic
expression of a doomed romance.