Germany Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Soloists and Chorus of Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre, Philharmonic Orchestra Bremerhaven / Davide Perniceni (conductor). Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre, 3.1.2026. (DM-D)
Production:
Scenic arrangement – Toni Burckhardt
Projections – Wolfgang Kurima Rauschning
Lighting design – Katharina Konopka
Dramaturgy – Markus Tatzig
Chorus director – Edward Mauritius Münch
Cast:
Romeo – Alice Lackner
Giulietta – Victoria Kunze
Tebaldo – Weilian Wang
Capellio – Timothy Edlin
Lorenzo – Marcin Hutek
For this concert performance of Bellini’s opera, the orchestra was placed on the stage, with music stands for the singers. Projections depicted indications of the scene (interior/exterior) and the central characters whose voices we heard. Solo singers and members of the male chorus entered and exited the area in front of the orchestra from the sides, as needed, facing either other characters or the audience. Conductor Davide Perniceni was placed behind the singers and at times had to engage in extraordinary twists of his back and neck to be able to see, not only hear, his singers and to coordinate them with the orchestra. Such exercise paid off: Perniceni achieved a very high level of unison between orchestra and singing.
When the 2025/26 season brochure for the Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre was published, the announcement of I Capuleti e i Montecchi came with an image of the planned cast for Romeo and Giulietta, company members Boshana Milkov and Victoria Kunze. In the end, guest performer Alice Lackner sang Romeo. I assume the role was too high for Milkov’s vocal range: her undeniable strength is in the lower register of the mezzo-soprano voice, making her a contralto, really. The Bremerhaven company’s management deserves high praise for making this relatively late cast change in Milkov’s interest. Lackner, making both her Bremerhaven and role debuts, did not disappoint either. She has been particularly active in singing concert and oratorio, also reflected by the selection of video and audio samples on her website, and was thus particularly at ease with the concert format of this staging. She was able to vocally portray the range of modes in which we encounter Romeo: the warrior, leader of his family’s forces against the enemy, the rival against Tebaldo, and the lover when together with Giulietta. Her voice was characterised by a steady, tight vibrato. It was strong across the registers, with secure and radiant high notes. The body language performers sometimes allow themselves in concert performances in her case reflected the extent to which her body was flowing to the rhythms of Bellini’s music. Victoria Kunze excelled in Giulietta’s coloratura: her voice was supple, mellifluous and golden throughout, with particular emphasis on the nuances of volume.
Weilian Wang as Tebaldo faced the challenge of combining the role’s elements of very lyrical and much more dramatic material. Initially he was more secure in the lyrical passages, growing quickly, however, in fully justified confidence in his own vocal abilities for the more dramatic music. He sang with beautiful and stylish poise, doing justice to the lyrical material, lending steely yet unforced strength to the dramatic moments and alternating between them smoothly. Marcin Hutek clearly relished the bel canto nature of the music for his role of Lorenzo, with a rich and very warm voice. Timothy Edlin as Capellio impressed with his clear, very focused, rich and sonorous bass (in good contrast to Hutek’s baritone). The male chorus, directed by Edward Mauritius Münch, added to the sinister note of relentless hatred characteristic of the plot.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe