Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette

Summary: The Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette is sixth in a series linking visual artists with current season operas.

Alexandra Marzella as Juliette, costumed by Marc Jacobs, in the Metropolitan Opera's Gallery Met Short of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette by Rachel Feinstein: Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl via Facebook Jan. 24, 2017

The Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette by 19th century composer Charles Gounod is sixth in a series of short films produced by Gallery Met director Dodie Kazanjian with the aim of linking original visual artworks with current season operas.

Rachel Feinstein debuts as Gallery Met Shorts’ sixth visual artist with her original visual artwork treating Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893). She was born May 25, 1971, in Fort Defiance, Apache County, northeastern Arizona. She is known for her fanciful sculptures and for her fashion sense.

Feinstein’s short film has a run time of 2 minutes 31 seconds. Five vignettes capture the drama of the opera’s five acts. The Gallery Met Short excerpts the opening music for the opera’s second act from Metropolitan Opera’s Dec. 15, 2007, performance of Roméo et Juliette.

New York-based models Alexandra Marzella and Michael Bailey-Gates appear as Juliette and Roméo in the Roméo et Juliette Gallery Met Short. Juliette's costumes are by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963).

The Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette debuted during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season. Feinstein’s original visual artwork was first seen during the Live in HD broadcast of Metropolitan Opera’s Jan. 21, 2017, matinee performance.

Feinstein’s short film finds relevance to Met Opera’s current season. The Metropolitan Opera presents Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette as the last of the 26 productions performed for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Six performances are scheduled.

Opening night is Monday, April 23, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). April’s second performance takes place Friday, April 27, at 8 p.m.

Four performances are scheduled for May. Performances at 7:30 p.m. take place Tuesday, May 1, and Wednesday, May 9. Saturday, May 5’s performance is at 1 p.m. Roméo et Juliette’s final performance, Saturday, May 12, at 1 p.m. closes the 2017-2018 Met Opera season.

In addition to Rachel Feinstein’s Roméo et Juliette, another Gallery Met Short pertains to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Seattle-born visual artist Thomas John “T.J.” Wilcox’s original visual artwork on The Tales of Hoffmann debuted Jan. 31, 2015, as third in the Gallery Met Short series. The 2017-2018 Met Opera season revisits Les Contes d’Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880), with nine performances between Tuesday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 28.

Dodie Kazanjian conceived the Gallery Met Short series as an expansion of the connection between Metropolitan Opera House’s Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met and Met Opera season productions. Located in the Metropolitan Opera’s south lobby, Gallery Met celebrates the opera house’s storied relationships with such major visual artists as Russian-French artist Marc Chagall (July 7, 1887-March 28, 1985) and English painter and stage designer David Hockney (born July 9, 1937).

She explains to Broadway World’s Opera News Desk: “The idea was to connect contemporary art and artists more directly with what happens onstage at the Metropolitan Opera.”

Kazanjian launches the Gallery Met Short series with original artwork by Italian satirical sculptor Maurizio Cattelan (born Sept. 21, 1960) and Italian photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari. Their treatment of the Act I finale of Macbeth by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) was originally seen during the Live in HD broadcast of Oct. 11, 2014.

The takeaway for the Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette is that the sixth short film in a series produced by Gallery Met director Dodie Kazanjian links Arizona-born sculptor Rachel Feinstein’s original artwork with 19th century French composer Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Gounod’s Shakespeare-based, romantic tragedy is presented in April and May 2018 as the last of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 26 productions.

"Federal Rachel" (right), 2006 portrait of artist Rachel Feinstein by her husband, John Currin; Nov. 30, 2011, photo of John Currin Meets Cornelis van Haarlem exhibition (Oct. 7, 2011-Jan. 8, 2012), Franz Hals Museum, Hof location (Groot Heiligland), Haarlem, Netherlands: FaceMePLS, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Alexandra Marzella as Juliette, costumed by Marc Jacobs, in the Metropolitan Opera's Gallery Met Short of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette by Rachel Feinstein: Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl via Facebook Jan. 24, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/videos/1573087612706773/

"Federal Rachel" (right), 2006 portrait of artist Rachel Feinstein by her husband, John Currin; Nov. 30, 2011, photo of John Currin Meets Cornelis van Haarlem exhibition (Oct. 7, 2011-Jan. 8, 2012), Franz Hals Museum, Hof location (Groot Heiligland), Haarlem, Netherlands: FaceMePLS, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/faceme/6487370951/

For further information:

“Gallery Met Shorts.” The Metropolitan Opera > Exhibitions.
Available @ http://www.metopera.org/Visit/Exhibitions/Gallery-Met-Shorts/

Marc Jacobs @marcjacobs. “Watch artist Rachel Feinstein’s new short film, Roméo et Juliette, featuring Marc Jacobs.” Twitter. Jan. 24, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/marcjacobs/status/823940827617652736

Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl. "Watch artist Rachel Feinstein's new short film, Roméo et Juliette, featuring Marc Jacobs." Facebook. Jan. 24, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/videos/1573087612706773/

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Met Opera Season Opens Sept. 25 With Bellini’s Norma.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 18, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/09/2017-2018-met-opera-season-opens-sept.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for The Tales of Hoffmann.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 11, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/09/metropolitan-operas-gallery-met-short.html

Metropolitan Opera. “Gallery Met Shorts: Macbeth.” YouTube. Oct. 3, 2014.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_i-4yVm-w

Metropolitan Opera. “Gallery Met Shorts: Roméo et Juliette.” YouTube. Jan. 21, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCw-p6qY7H4

Opera News Desk. “The Met’s Gallery Met Shorts Series to Launch 10/11 With Macbeth.” Broadway World > Broadway World Opera. Oct. 3, 2014.
Available @ http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/The-Mets-Gallery-Met-Shorts-Series-to-Launch-1011-with-MACBETH-20141003

Wisniewski, John. "'Folly,' a powdered-aluminum sculpture of a flying ship moored high in a tree by American artist Rachel Feinstein, Madison Square Park, New York City." Flickr. May 16, 2014.
Available via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/johngonefishing/14220365133/