English Touring Opera’s Spring 2025 season explores Shakespeare’s influence through a new production of Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues. A Youngish Perspective holds this exclusive conversation with its leading soprano, Jessica Cale.
What drew you to the role of Giulietta, and how do you approach portraying such a complex character in this new production?
Bellini writes some beautiful music for Giulietta to sing in this opera, but what drew me to her character most is her vulnerability. Giulietta’s feminine energy and quiet strength is something that Eloise [Lully, Director] and I are really exploring in this particular production.
Bellini’s The Capulets and the Montagues offers a unique interpretation of the Romeo and Juliet story. How does this production differ from more traditional adaptations of the classic tale?
This is the story of Romeo and Juliet but what may surprise people is that we’re dropped straight into the drama. There is no ‘balcony’ scene, we don’t get to witness Romeo and Juliet first falling in love, instead, the audience is brought right into the heart of the political rivalry of the two families which is the backdrop for the whole love story.
You’ve had a remarkable career with performances at prestigious venues like Glyndebourne and Teatro La Fenice. How have these experiences shaped your approach to performing with English Touring Opera?
The thing I most love about opera is how varied my job can be. English Touring Opera is unique in that each performance is in a different venue so there are particular challenges that come with this kind of touring opera. As performers, we must be very secure in our character’s psychological and physical journey through the opera and then translate that into the performance space at each individual venue.
What has the rehearsal process been like for this production, and how have you collaborated with the creative team to bring Giulietta’s emotional journey to life?
It has been so wonderful to collaborate with Eloise. We have worked pretty quickly, covering most of the blocking within two weeks, but that now gives us another two weeks to really refine our choices as well as adding detail and nuance to our characters. For Giulietta, we have been exploring her youthfulness but also her feminine power that she holds within the man’s world where we find her.
Having won the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the London Handel Festival Audience Prize, how do you balance competition success with your operatic career, and what advice would you give to young singers aspiring to follow a similar path?
Well, first of all I would say that competitions are not the be all and end all! They are certainly an amazing vehicle to test yourself, try out new repertoire, and learn how well you work under pressure but the real test is how you can build on competition success or, possibly more importantly, how you pick yourself up and carry on when things maybe don’t go to plan. You have to be resilient, dedicated, and resourceful – it can be hard work but it is so rewarding and I feel incredibly lucky that I get to call this my job!
ETO’s production of The Capulets and the Montagues opens at London’s Hackney Empire on 22 February before touring across the country.