ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
COMPOSED BY: CHARLES GOUNOD
LIBRETTO BY: JULES BARBIER, MICHEL CARRÉ
Experience the timeless passion of Shakespeare’s most popular love story through the beautiful music of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. With soaring melodies and heart-stopping drama, Opera Maine’s 2026 production of this renowned classic will celebrate the power of young love and the price of destiny.
Join us for Roméo et Juliette on Thursday, July 23 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, July 26, at 2:30 PM in Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle St, Portland, ME 04101.
Pre-performance talk with dramaturg Calien Lewis one hour before curtain (included in ticket price).
JULY 23 & JULY 26
$35 – $175 | Free for 21 and under
Sung in FRENCH
with PROJECTED ENGLISH TRANSLATION
ESTIMATED RUNTIME:
2 HRS 50 MIN
1 INTERMISSION
Scroll down for a sample of Roméo et Juliette‘s music.
Israel Gursky, Conductor
Conductor Israel Gursky is a member of the music staff at the Metropolitan Opera, where he also coaches the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. He made his professional debut in 2007 with Don Giovanni at Washington National Opera and has since guest conducted widely, including with Los Angeles Opera, Teatro de Bellas Artes, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Maine, and Opera Birmingham.
He served as Kapellmeister at Theater Regensburg (2014–2017), conducting over 120 performances, and later as Kapellmeister and Head of Music Staff at Theater Bremen (2017–2019). A frequent collaborator with Plácido Domingo, he has conducted concerts worldwide and has been closely involved with the Operalia Competition.
Gursky has been principal conductor of Teatro Grattacielo since 2012, leading numerous rare operatic works and anniversary galas. He is also on the faculty of the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project.
Born in Tel Aviv, he trained at the Manhattan School of Music, Stony Brook University, and the Rubin Academy, and participated in the Tanglewood, Merola, and Verbier programs.
CONDUCTOR
Israel Gursky
Dona D. Vaughn, Director
Dona D. Vaughn is Artistic Director of Opera Maine and a respected stage director, teacher, and former performer. She served as Stage Director/Acting Coach for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program (1998–2010) and as Artistic Director of Opera Programs at Manhattan School of Music (2008–2020).
Her directing credits include New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Wolf Trap Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Birmingham, the Kennedy Center, and international work in France. At Manhattan School of Music, she directed a wide range of productions from Così fan tutte to The Mother of Us All.
Vaughn began her career on Broadway in Company, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Seesaw, and later worked as a producer in theater and television. A sought-after master teacher, she leads classes worldwide and adjudicates major vocal competitions.
She holds degrees from Wesleyan University and Hunter College, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Maine.
DIRECTOR
Dona D. Vaughn
A Word From the Conductor
“I am looking forward to returning to my ninth production with Opera Maine and to returning to the piece with which I made my debut with the company in 2008. Roméo et Juliette is one of the great love stories of all time that in Gounod’s brilliant adaption was turned into an exciting opera, full of passion and great melodies. I am looking forward to creating a fresh take on this beautiful classic together with Dona Vaughn and with our exciting young cast.”
– Maestro Israel Gursky
CAST
THE CAPULETS
Denis Velez, soprano
Praised for her “otherworldly” voice, soprano Denis Vélez makes her role and company debut as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Maine in 2026. Recent highlights include performances with major Mexican orchestras, her Chicago Opera debut in Salieri’s Falstaff, and appearances with Joffrey Ballet.
She has performed with Opera de Bellas Artes, Wolf Trap Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Des Moines Opera, and was a member of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.
A LuminArts Fellow, Vélez is the first Mexican singer to win the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and a top prizewinner at the Carlo Morelli Competition.
JULIETTE
Denis Velez
Christopher Job, bass-baritone
Praised for his “commanding sonority,” Bass-Baritone Christopher Job is a “rising star on the American opera scene.” A house favorite at The Metropolitan Opera, he has appeared in numerous productions such as Tosca, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Der Rosenkavalier, Medea, Roberto Devereux, Werther, Macbeth, Un ballo in maschera, La Forza del Destino, Roméo et Juliette, La Rondine, The Magic Flute, Dead Man Walking, and The Nose; among others.
Job recently continued his tenure at The Met, opening their 2024-2025 season with Grounded, followed by Tosca, Rigoletto, The Magic Flute, Die Zauberflöte, Fidelio, Le nozze di Figaro, Salome, and The Queen of Spades. On the concert stage, Mr. Job returned to Carnegie Hall to sing Handel’s Messiah and Freihold in Strauss’ Guntram. This season, he returns to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Fouquier-Tinville in Andrea Chénier, Marquis d’Obigny in La traviata, and First Priest in The Magic Flute.
COUNT CAPULET
Christopher Job
Maxwell Levy, tenor
Maxwell Levy, tenor, is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London’s Royal Academy Opera course and M.A. in Musical Theatre course, and previously studied in the M.A. in Vocal Arts course at The Juilliard School under the esteemed, late Marlena Malas.
Previous performance highlights include Hermann in The Queen of Spades at The Glimmerglass Festival, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Royal Academy Opera, Emmanuel in the European premier of Blitzstein’s No For an Answer Off-West End at The Arcola Theatre and the Opera Box Ghost in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles at the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles. For his performances as Hermann, Opera Today wrote, “Mr. Levy is that rare, somewhat dark voiced tenor who not only has the stentorian delivery needed to fill any hall, but also the ability to scale it back with gorgeous results, as he imbues his vocalization with immense heart and feeling…I can predict you will hear much, much, more of tenor Maxwell Levy…I think the response is: More, please.”
Maxwell holds his undergraduate B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and is currently the Assistant Manager of Payroll at The Metropolitan Opera. He continues freelance performing on operatic, musical theater and concert stages around the world.
TYBALT
Maxwell Levy
Michelle Blauman, mezzo-soprano
Described as possessing a “…sultry mezzo tone…” (Opera News), American mezzo-soprano
Michelle Blauman is gaining recognition as a versatile and compelling performer. Recent highlights include Jezibaba (Rusalka) with New Jersey Opera Theatre and the title role in Carmen with Opera Palisades.
A frequent Principal Artist with New York Opera Forum, she has appeared as Dalila (Samson et
Dalila), Waltraute (Götterdämmerung), Principessa (Adriana Lecouvreur), and Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera). With Opera Steamboat, she performed Marjorie Perry in the world premiere of
Welcome to the Madness (Leanna Kirchoff) and Zita (Gianni Schicchi).
Ms. Blauman was a Studio Artist with Sarasota Opera, where she appeared as Giovanna (Rigoletto) and covered multiple roles. She holds a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music and a degree from Pacific Lutheran University, and is based in New York City.
GERTRUDE
Michelle Blauman
Daniel Illig, baritone
Hailing from San Francisco, baritone Daniel Illig has been praised for his versatility across genres and performance styles. He was most recently seen as Paul’s Father in Paul’s Case by Gregory Spears and the Bird Seller / Baritone Soloist in Sweeney Todd at Opera Maine. In the fall of 2024 Mr. Illig sang Jim Crowley in the New York premiere of An American Dream by Jack Perla at the Manhattan School of Music where he is currently perusing his Masters of Music on a full scholarship.
In 2022 Mr. Illig made his principal debut with Utah Festival Opera where he performed Georg Nowack in She Loves Me!, Jose in Man of La Mancha, and covered Papageno in The Magic Flute. In 2019 Mr. Illig was seen as Frederic Fleet in Titanic in concert with 42nd Street Moon at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco.
Mr. Illig holds a Bachelors of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he studied under the tutelage of William McGraw. During his studies at CCM, Mr. Illig performed various leading roles including Sid from Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring, Manfred Lewin in a recital version of Jake Heggie’s For A Look or a Touch, and Lord Cecil in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda.
In 2017, during his time in Cincinnati, Mr. Illig was a featured recitalist with The Montgomery Arts Commission, and performed Live at the Uni: in Concert with Daniel Illig.
Mr. Illig has held solo cabaret residencies on both the east and west coast, including San Francisco and New York City. In the fall of 2022 Mr. Illig held a cabaret residency in New York City at the piano bar Good Judy where he performed with pianist and composer Ben Nylander to sold out audiences. Along with performing; Daniel has also produced events in New York City, most notably a variety performance celebrating the historic event of Barbra Streisand’s 80th Birthday. Even though Daniel has tried for many years, he refuses to accept that the job of Barbra Streisand is taken. He settled for throwing her a birthday party instead. Prior to living in New York, he produced, wrote, and performed in a one man show called I Live With My Parents to a sold out audience at the Randall Museum Theatre in San Francisco.
In 2018 Mr. Illig was a finalist in the Campus Superstar Competition hosted by the Cincinnati Hillel Foundation and held at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati. In the summer of 2022, Mr. Illig was a finalist in the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre Voice Competition.
Mr. Illig is currently located in New York City.
PÂRIS
Daniel Illig
Micah Schroeder, baritone
Canadian-American baritone Micah Schroeder, praised for his “smooth as glass lyrical contours” (The National Post), has performed across North America and in Europe. A recent graduate of the opera studio of Opéra de Lyon, the Vancouver Opera Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program and the Opera Idaho Young Artist Program, Schroeder is a champion of contemporary repertoire and recently curated and created the documentary film DENKMAL as an Artist-in-Residence for Pacific Opera Victoria. In the coming season Schroeder will create the role of Quinn in the world premiere of Nicole Lizee’s RUR: A Torrent of Light with Tapestry Opera in Toronto.Schroeder received a Bachelor and Master of Music degree from the University of British Columbia and an Artist Diploma in Opera from the University of Toronto.
Micah Schroeder has gained extensive stage experience through a variety of roles. At Vancouver Opera he appeared in the role of Belcore (L’elisir d’amore) and in the title role of Eugene Onegin, each as a cover. There he also sang David (A Hand of Bridge), The Man who killed her (Requiem for a Lost Girl), and as David/Osiris/Scorpions (The Scorpion Sting). For Opera Idaho, he covered Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), and sang A-RAB (West Side Story) and Bumble (The Enchanted Forest). Micah Schroeder’s engagements at Summer Festivals include: Schaunard (La Bohème) and Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Highlands Opera Studio, Pangloss (Candide), and Baryton-martin (Kopernikus) at the Banff Center and Schaunard (La Bohème) as well as Tonic/Don Giovanni/Participant (The Classical Style) at the Aspen Opera Center. Schroeder has also appeared with Against the Grain Theatre as Schaunard and with Saskatoon Opera as Figaro (Barber of Seville). Outstanding roles in Schroeder’s repertoire include the title roles in Pelléas et Mélisande, Don Giovanni and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Guglielmo (Così fan tutte).
In addition to the opera stage, Schroeder has a passion for the concert and recital repertoire. Micah Schroeder debuted in 2012 with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in its annual “Traditional Christmas” series and has performed with them several times since then, most recently at a world premiere of Bramwell Tovey’s new opera The Girl for Sale in 2018. On the concert podium Micah Schroeder has also performed Finzi’s Let us garlands bring, Glick’s South of North: Images of Canada, Songs of Travel and Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan-Williams, Poulenc’s La fraîcheur et le feu and Tel jour, telle nuit, Mahler’s Songs of a the Wayfarer, the Harfnerlieder by Schumann and Wolf and Vier ernste Gesänge and ein Deutches Requiem of Brahms.
GREGORIO
Micah Schroeder
Ricardo Lugo, bass
Praised for his “resonant, full-voiced basso,” Puerto Rican bass Ricardo Lugo is a versatile international artist in demand on the operatic and concert scene. Having made his Metropolitan Opera début as Un Barnabotto in La Gioconda, Mr. Lugo has since been involved in multiple productions with the company including The Nose, Pelléas et Mélisande, Otello, Tannhäuser, Tosca, Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Ariadne auf Naxos, Khovanshchina, Billy Budd, La fanciulla del West, Adriana Lecouvreur, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Gambler, Die Zauberflöte and Salome.
In the 2025-26 season, Mr. Lugo makes exciting returns to Virginia Opera as Ramphis in Aida and North Carolina Opera as Ferrando in Il trovatore. Last season, he reprised his Captain in Florencia en el Amazonas with North Carolina Opera, and he returned to Virginia Opera as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and to the Metropolitan Opera for their production of Salome.
Mr. Lugo currently serves on the voice faculty at the New England Conservatory.
FRÈRE LAURENT
Ricardo Lugo
Tyler Putnam, bass-baritone
Possessing a voice described as “robust and resonant” by TheatreMania and deemed a “standout” by Opera Magazine, bass-baritone Tyler Putnam is in demand in a variety of repertoire. In the 2025-2026 season, Tyler makes his role debut as Escamillo in Carmen with Gulfshore Opera and returns to St Petersburg Opera as Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Recent performances include Oroveso in Norma with Opera på Skäret in Sweden, Vodnik in Rusalka with Gulfshore Opera, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Opera Ithaca and Cura Viejo in the world premiere of Behold the Man with Opera Las Vegas. An apprentice at The Santa Fe Opera for two seasons, Tyler debuted the role of Kobun in a workshop performance of Mark Campbell and Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and originated the role of Thomas in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. Originally from Chebeague Island, Maine, Tyler Putnam is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
THE DUKE
Tyler Putnam
THE MONTAGUES
Kameron Lopreore, tenor
Kameron Lopreore is a lyric tenor from New Orleans, praised for his “powerful ringing top and baritenor weight.” In the 2025–2026 season, he debuts with Florida Grand Opera as Nikolaus Sprink in Silent Night and makes his South American debut as Rodolfo in La bohème with Municipal de Santiago. He also appears as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Knoxville Symphony and Carmina Burana with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and records Salome with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería.
Recent seasons include roles with Austin Opera (Madama Butterfly), Pacific Northwest Opera (Rusalka), Opera Louisiane (Becoming Santa Claus), and multiple engagements with The Atlanta Opera, including Rodolfo, Pinkerton cover, and appearances in Rigoletto, Das Rheingold, and The Shining. He is a former Santa Fe Opera young artist and recipient of the company’s Award of Excellence.
Festival credits include The Glimmerglass Festival, where he performed Tamino, Léon, Gastone, and toured The Ghosts of Versailles to Versailles, France. He has also appeared with Pensacola Opera, New Orleans Opera, Shreveport Opera, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in major works including Messiah and Stabat Mater.
A competitor in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, he is a multi-year District Winner. He also appeared on television in AMC’s Interview with the Vampire.
ROMÉO
Kameron Lopreore
Laureano Quant, baritone
Laureano Quant is lauded for a voice that is “robust and full of swagger” (San Francisco Chronicle). In the 2025-26 season, he returns to Madison Opera (Guglielmo in Così fan tutte) and Chicago Opera Theater (Slender in Salieri’s Falstaff and joins Opera Maine (Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette), Dallas Opera (Zuniga in Carmen), and Opera Edwardsville for a concert of opera favorites. Recent engagements include Bill in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Staatsoper Stuttgart), El Payador in Maria de Buenos Aires (Madison Opera), Escamillo in Carmen and Schaunard in La bohème (Wolf Trap Opera), Dancaïre in Carmen and Comte de Lerma in Don Carlos (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Betto in Gianni Schicchi (Ópera de Colombia), Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Captain and Prince Ragonsky in Candide (Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotà). Concert performances include Handel’s Messiah (Apollo Orchestra of Chicago) and Fauré’s Requiem and Bacalov’s Missa Tango Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotà).
MERCUTIO
Laureano Quant
Winona Martin, mezzo-soprano
Texas-born mezzo-soprano Winona Martin is a member of the Semperoper Dresden Junges Ensemble for the 2025–27 seasons, appearing as Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Mercédès (Carmen), Dinah (Trouble in Tahiti), and Flora Bervoix (La traviata). In 2026–27, she returns to the United States to sing Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with Fort Worth Opera and makes her Opera Maine debut as Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette). A former Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera, she performed Laurene Powell Jobs (The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs) and Stéphano at the Kennedy Center. She is a first prize winner of the Fort Worth Opera McCammon and Annapolis Opera competitions, a Tenor Viñas semifinalist, and a Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition regional finalist. Previous engagements include Wolf Trap Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The City Choir of Washington, Utah Symphony, Utah Opera, Annapolis Opera, The National Orchestral Institute, and the Cooperstown Bach Festival.
STEPHANO
Winona Martin
Get a Taste of Roméo et Juliette
Familiarize yourself with the music of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette ahead of our upcoming performances.
For analysis of the music and themes, go to Notes on Opera Maine’s Season
“Ah! Je veux vivre” – Metropolitan Opera, 2024
Performed by Nadine Sierra
Performed by Benjamin Bernheim
Listen on Spotify:
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