I am an idea person. I very much enjoy brainstorming different possibilities and solutions and letting the creativity flow. I remember taking some random personality test years ago, and one of my strengths was coming up with ideas and being imaginative. However, I may be great at coming up with ideas but I don’t always … More Thoughts and Ideas

Hi there! Welcome to my blog! My name is Estarah Berciunas and I am an operatic soprano based in Kansas City. I’m so glad you made it to my page and have decided to join me on my journey of learning Charles Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette and creating, developing, and becoming Juliette. My desire is … More Welcome!

In my last post, I mentioned that Juliette’s music evolves from a pleasant melodic and lyrical line to a more dramatic, declamatory, and chromatic style by the end of the opera. In this post I would like to discuss some musical excerpts that show this transformation. Understanding the path and progression that not only the … More Juliette’s Musical Transformation: Act I

I believe it is important to take time to rest and break away from work. It creates space and gives the mind some time to really rest and let what you’ve studied and worked on settle in and percolate. I also think it’s really necessary to find a balance between self-discipline and hard work and … More Check-in

It is amazing to me how the story of Romeo and Juliet has so much history and has been adapted in so many ways over the span of almost 500 years. Almost everyone knows this classic story, it’s themes and morals, and archetypal characters.  I finished reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597) a few weeks … More Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

ACT IV Juliet forgives Romeo for killing Tybalt: There is a short dialogue before their duet, “Nuit d’hyménée”, lush with tertian harmonies. Some consider this to be the consummation of the marriage when Juliet loses her virginity and physical self. This duet includes more singing together than separate vocal lines which represents the closeness with … More Telling Her Story: Part Two

Juliet’s transformation from a happy and lively young girl to suicidal lover occurs over such a short amount of time. Juliet seems to evolve through specific moments which diminish her will to live quickly and drastically. Each moment with Romeo influences Juliet and changes her. Her love for Romeo slowly overtakes her sense of self … More Telling Her Story: Part One

Prologue: The chorus sets the scene of two rival families and their endless wars. Juliette appears and Romeo loves her – and these unfortunate lovers pay for their families’ age-old hatred.  Act One: Capulet’s ball Everyone attending the masked ball is having a great drunken time with each other. Tybalt hopes to impress Count Paris … More Telling the Story

Listening Before I jump into learning the music, I find that it’s really helpful and important to do some solid listening of the entire work before I even crack open the score. Both active and passive listening helps me get a good feel for the work as a whole, the trajectory of the story and … More SCORE PREP

In “Coming of Age in Verona” written in 1978 by Coppélia Kahn – one of the first scholars to focus on feminism and gender studies within Shakespeare – Kahn argues that the driving force of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is not simply fate, but rather the pressures of a patriarchal society imposed upon both Romeo … More Coming of Age in Verona

About a year ago, I started learning and studying King Harald’s Saga by the British (and living!) composer Judith Weir. This grand opera for unaccompanied soprano includes three acts, an epilogue and eight different roles all sung by one soprano. It tells the epic tale of Harald Hardrada, a Viking king and warrior who fought … More King Harald’s Saga : Becoming King Harald (and seven other characters too)

Hello Internet world, I’m back!  First of all, I want to thank you if you are reading this and have been following along with my journey of learning and becoming Juliette. And a GIGANTIC thank you if you were able to make it to see Romeo and Juliet with Lawrence Opera Theatre! I feel so … More Post Performance… Coming back to the real world

I have watched Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) twice and it is such an amazing film. Although I know the story and how it ends, I always get emotional at the end. The cinematography, music, and acting is just so well done.  I was fascinated when I learned that Franco Zeffirelli was actually a quite … More Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1968)

I wanted to discuss aspects of the review of the London premiere that don’t apply directly to my portrayal of Juliette. There were a lot of interesting compliments, criticisms, and comparisons that I think are important to discuss. It gives a great insight as to the opera audiences and culture of the mid-late nineteenth century.  Compliments … More London premiere, Part deux

Roméo et Juliette originally premiered in Paris on April 27, 1867.  A few months later, on July 11, 1867, the opera opened at Covent Garden in London. I have been unable to find any reviews or press on the Paris premiere, but I did find an article from the London Times (dated August 10, 1867) … More London premiere: July 11, 1867, Covent Garden

Charles Gounod was a French composer in the 19th century, born in 1818. When he was about five years old, his father died and to support the family Gounod’s mother started her own piano studio. This early experience with music fostered great interest, education and skill in Gounod.  In 1836, Gounod began attending the Paris … More Charles Gounod

As rehearsals are fast approaching, I am working on getting everything memorized! I have learned all the music and French language, and now it is time to work the two elements together and get comfortable without the score. I have about two and a half weeks until rehearsals, and my goal is to have everything … More French language & Memorization

In a previous post, I said that “Je veux vivre” was in ABA form, which isn’t entirely correct, so I want to discuss the form in more detail. The form is actually rondo form, which means there is a returning section/refrain (A) and two different contrasting sections (B & C), so ABACA. In the below … More “Je veux vivre” Formal analysis

I just finished reading the article “Caroline Carvalho and nineteenth-century coloratura” by Sean M. Parr, written in 2011. This was a fascinating article! Caroline Carvalho (aka Marie Miolan) was a French soprano in the mid-nineteenth century that created sixteen operatic roles between 1850 and 1867. Of the sixteen, five of those premieres were Gounod operas. … More Caroline Carvalho and nineteenth-century coloratura

Throughout the opera so far, there is a playful back and forth of flirtatious exchanges between Romeo and Juliette, always ending with the lovers singing in harmony. Act V presents the lovers in a new stage of their lives together. They are both delirious and feel some sort of effects from the potion or poison. … More Juliette’s Musical Transformation: Act V

There is so much that happens in Act IV and Juliette is in every scene. In this act we start to see her take the lead and control the trajectory of her and Romeo’s life together. The first scene of this act is a lovely duet between Romeo and Juliette on their wedding night. There … More Juliette’s Musical Transformation: Act IV

While Act II is packed with a lengthy and intimate interaction between Romeo and Juliette, Act III is a little more straightforward and simple. It is an important moment because the couple gets married! This wedding scene is interesting because it is something that the librettists and Gounod created and added into the work. (In … More Juliette’s Musical Transformation: Act III

Act II begins with Romeo’s aria “Ah, leve-toi soleil!” as he is wandering in the night dreaming of his new love, Juliette. He ends up near Juliette’s balcony and overhears her lamenting about the misfortune of their love. The rest of the act is a large scene and duet for Romeo and Juliette in two … More Juliette’s Musical Transformation: Act II