[TR24][OF] Berlioz - Romeo et Juliette - San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas - 2018 (Classical, Vocal)

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony bring unsurpassed storytelling and musicality to their latest recording on the Grammy Award-winning SFS Media label: Berlioz’s dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette. With a narrative that Berlioz deemed “too beautiful, too musical” to not be performed, this impassioned orchestral scoring of love and despair is further enriched by the vocals of Sasha Cooke, Nicholas Phan, Luca Pisaroni, and the SFS Chorus.
Roméo et Juliette is widely considered to be one of Berlioz’s finest and most daring works. His interpretation of Shakespeare’s iconic play was inspired by an 1827 performance of Hamlet, when he became enchanted by Irish actress Harriet Smithson in the role of Ophelia. She later became the inspiration for his Symphonie fantastique. Though his romance for her waned, his admiration for Shakespeare continued to grow over time. “Seeing Harriet play Shakespeare changed Berlioz’s life forever,” notes MTT in an edition of the award-winning series Keeping Score on Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Berlioz recalled in his memoirs after his first exposure to Romeo and Juliet “…by the third act, scarcely able to breathe—it was as though an iron hand had gripped me by the heart—I knew that I was lost.” This choral symphony in seven movements features both small and large choruses as well as the three soloists. With its vivid musical scenery and passionate finale, it is an immense and intricate work, spanning a range of emotions, and a true celebration of the inspirational and transformative power of love. These performances will be recorded for a future SFS Media release.
Grammy Award-winner Sasha Cooke’s versatile repertoire and contemporary taste have won her an esteemed place in the hearts of the opera world. Deemed a “luminous standout” by the New York Times, she is a graduate of Rice University and The Juilliard School and has recently performed with MTT and the SFS in Mahler’s Third Symphony and a semi-staged production of Das klagende Lied. Nicholas Phan returns to the SFS on the heels of his latest solo release, Gods & Monsters (Avie Records) and was previously named one of NPR’s “Favorite New Artists of 2011.” He has earned critical acclaim for his two previous albums (A Painted Tale and Still Falls the Rain) and received a Grammy nomination for his 2010 recording of Stravinksy's Pulcinella with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez. Venezuelan-born Italian singer Luca Pisaroni made his debut with the SFS in 2015 as the bass soloist for the music from Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella. Other recent appearances in San Francisco include a performance of Fidelio with the SFS and performances at the San Francisco Opera as Figaro in Nozze and as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s classic comedy Le Nozze di Figaro.