The Capulets & the Montagues at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The theme of forbidden love is, indeed, timeless, and Verona's doomed lovers have inspired plays, novels and movies, as well as ballets and operas, for centuries.

Based on renaissance legend (rather than Shakespeare's play), a longstanding political feud drives the drama in Bellini's opera, adding a fascinating layer to this bel canto masterpiece. The score's vocal fireworks are tempered by elegant and luminously beautiful duets illustrating Bellini's passionate love affair with the human voice.