BALLET WEST AND PARK CITY OPERA ANNOUNCE FIRST-EVER COLLABORATION
SALT LAKE CITY (July 2026) — Dancers from Ballet West II, Ballet West's pre-professional company, will take the stage this August alongside the cast of Park City Opera’s production of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, performing Aug. 21 and 23, 2026, at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts in Park City.
It is the first time the two Utah companies have shared a stage. Ballet West II dancers will perform choreography created by Ballet West choreographer Michael Waldrop. Lisl Wangermann, who conceived the production, sees the addition of dance as integral to the storytelling.
“I am a huge opera fan and have loved it my entire life,” said Ballet West Artistic Director Adam Sklute. “I am thrilled that our second company dancers will have this marvelous opportunity to take part in an artform that is in fact, where ballet was born.”
For Wangermann, dance is another way to tell the story in a way the libretto can’t.
"As a director, this is like doubling the number of colors in a painter's palette,” she said. “I cannot wait to work with Michael Waldrop to create a fresh presentation of this timeless story."
For Park City Opera Executive Director Lena Goldstein, this is exactly the kind of work the company was built to do. "Gounod's Roméo et Juliette is one of the great love stories in the operatic repertoire, and having the extraordinary dancers of Ballet West II on stage with our cast elevates this production in ways that honor the full expressive power of the work," she said. "We look forward to celebrating what becomes possible when Utah's performing arts community works together."
Gounod's Roméo et Juliette takes Shakespeare's tragedy and reimagines it through the grandeur of French Romantic opera. The production will be sung in French with English supertitles and features a twelve-voice chorus and forty-player orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Beckman and directed by Wangermann. Tenor Patrick Bessenbacher sings the role of Roméo; soprano Nicole Heinen makes her role debut as Juliette.
Tickets are on sale now at www.parkcityopera.org. Run time is approximately three hours.