Werther from Minnesota Opera

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Tune into Classical MPR on Wednesday, February 27 at 8 p.m. to hear Minnesota Opera's staging of Massenet's Werther with the pairing of international opera stars James Valenti and Roxana Constantinescu.

Overflowing with yearning and heartbreaking melancholy, Massenet's most romantic tragedy is inspired by a true story of unrequited love originally penned by the genius of modern German literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Werther is the story of the idealistic poet of the same name who cannot live without love, and the object of his obsession, Charlotte.

Music by Jules Massenet
Libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann
Based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774)

Creative Team:
Conductor — Christoph Campestrini
Stage Director — Kevin Newbury
Set Designer — Allen Moyer
Costume Designer — Jessica Jahn
Lighting Designer — D. M. Wood

The Cast:
Werther, a poet — James Valenti
Charlotte — Roxana Constantinescu
Albert, her betrothed — Gabriel Preisser
Sophie, Charlotte's sister — Angela Mortellaro
Le Bailli, Charlotte's father — Joseph Beutel
Schmidt, his friend — John Robert Lindsey
Johann, his friend — Rodolfo Nieto
Brühlmann, a young man — Mark Thomas
Käthchen, a young woman — Alison Schardin